Cryptocurrency Investment: Tips for Beginners

Cryptocurrency-investment

The value of Bitcoin has gone up by 800% since January 2017, not only that the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies has gone up by 1300%, more than $300 billion!

Total-Market-Cap
stats from coinmarketcap.com

This means cryptocurrency, a mear tech term a few years ago has attracted a lot of investors money into it, therefore, making this as the best time to invest in cryptocurrency.

I personally have been in misted of this surge from past 3 months which has got me 100x gains. No doubt the process of getting into cryptocurrency is a complex task and is a risky thing. Cryptocurrency investment requires a lot of research and understanding of terms before you actually get in. 

Here are the things you should look at before you make your first investment…

PickING a currency

First, there was only one currency, Bitcoin. This has changed since 2016, now there are in total 1320 cryptocurrencies where Bitcoin’s market share has dropped from 90% to 40% because of Altcoins(Alternative coins). Today, even though Bitcoin stands as the first investment option for a majority but the best return on investment at the moment you could get is through Altcoin.

There are many good currencies to invest in 2017 and 2018 some of which are :

  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • Dash
  • Monero and many more…

Each one solves a unique problem with a common underlying Blockchain technology.

 

There are a lot of other altcoins with huge potential still unnoticed and there more to come in near future. All you have to do pick the ones to invest in a proper research and at currency market performance at Coinmarketcap website.  

 

My personal picks for 2018 are :

  • Ethereum 
  • Power Ledger
  • Cordana

Bitcoin is also set to double its price by the end of 2018.

Ignore the hype – Ask questions and find answers

Being an investor, you would want to invest in something which will give you a good return on investment and not lose all your money.

To make sure this happens, what you’ll need to do is a proper research before investing. This will help you know more about the company, the team, the future plans and every other thing you should know before you invest.

As a beginner, you should at least do the research on following things:

  • What problem is a cryptocurrency tackling? is it relevant? achievable?
    • Think of it an initial pitch, if you like the idea then only go ahead.
  • What is the team?
    • The team behind the execution of a project is a very important. Always bet on guys who have the caliber to pull it off. 
  • What is their roadmap?
    • Look out for the goals company plans to achieve in next year or maybe a quarter. This would give you an idea about a potential time it could take your investment 
    • Most of the project does have a roadmap but some would not. In this case, I would personally wait for a roadmap and then invest.
  • What potential they’ve compared to other competitors?
    • There can more than one company working on the same idea or might have some similarities amongst their solution. This could helpful 
  • What are the thoughts/reviews of crypto community members?
    • Follow right source of information. don’t follow any site/article or discussion.
    • I personally follow Cryptobud YouTube channel and Steemit – An incentivized, blockchain-based, public content platform.

All the buzz on social media is about people’s opinion. It should not be the reason for you to invest!  

Deciding a number

The cryptocurrency markets are at current highly volatile hence you should be cautious while choosing about how much to invest in.

According to Mark Cuban, The ideal amount to invest should be 10% of what you earn. This is because the risk is high and so are the gains, therefore, you should always choose a figure which for the worse, lost, would not affect your financial condition.

Pro tip: Always spread your investment among a portfolio of cryptocurrencies. Invest when it’s on low, avoid buying when its high.

CHOOSING an exchange 

Picking right cryptocurrency is important. It should have a good reputation with a wide range of cryptos investment option/feature and low trading fees.

There are many exchanges out there but there are few which stand out.

Best cryptocurrency exchanges globally

  • Bittrex – The one I personally use for the sole reason that it has maximum cryptos listed compared to others. This gives wide range investment option.
  • Bitfinex 
  • Coinbase

Check out more exchanges here.

Best cryptocurrency exchanges in India 

  • Koinex – Recommended (Exchange for Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash)
  • Zebpay – Best for bitcoin. According to features and payment options. Also a lot of hidden charges.
  • Unocoin  

Note: If you are in India, wanting to invest in other cryptos then you’ll require transferring your Bitcoin/Ether to Bittrex or any equivalent exchange. Transferring bitcoin/ether to such exchanges will incur transfer fees.

SecurING your investment

The booming cryptocurrency market has attracted a much-unsolicited interest from hackers. To not repeat the Bitfinex’s $66 million hack, investors should take necessary steps to secure their tokens.

To do this, there are many types wallets which provide various options on how to secure your tokens. The most secured is the hardware wallet, just like the name you can save all your private tokens on a hardware device. In case you lose the device/hardware there is no way you can get the tokens. On another hand, a software is easy to use wallets.

You should always protect your software wallet with 2factor authentication and set notifications/alert for login and transaction.

Take the plunge and have patience

Once you’ve invested in a particular cryptocurrency and got it secured, all you have to do is to wait for the right surge.

According to the research that you would’ve done, you can expect a surge in price anytime. That can happen when a company has achieved the Q1 or Q3 goals or it can just be a hype which can get you good gains. 

My advice

I personally recommend holding an investment for a long-term. The gains on a long-term investment are always high, take the example of 100x return on Bitcoin for those who decided to hold 2years back.

The current scenario is like the dot-com boom where companies like Microsoft, Google became a good investment. Always be up-to-date with the news and happening in the market, act wise, do not sell for fewer gains, have a portfolio of currencies to invest and hodl when there is a pullback.

Note: Your choice should be based on proper research and analysis of market and company. Do your own research before investing.

I hope this information helped. Feel free to comment below with your queries.

Happy investing!

Blogger & Assc Cloud Architect

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