How to trade cryptocurrencies: A beginner’s guide to buy and sell digital currencies

What is crypto trading?

The act of speculating on cryptocurrency price movements via a contract for difference (CFD) trading account, or buying and selling the underlying coins via an exchange is known as cryptocurrency or crypto trading.

CFD trading is a type of derivative that allows you to bet on Bitcoin (BTC) price changes without possessing the underlying currencies.

For example, you can go long (buy) if you believe the value of a cryptocurrency will rise, or short (sell) if you believe the value will fall.

Both are leveraged instruments, which means that you only need a little deposit, known as margin trading crypto, to have total exposure to the underlying market.

However, because your profit or loss is still determined based on the total size of your investment, leveraging trading crypto magnifies both earnings and losses.

Furthermore, cryptocurrency options are used by investors to reduce risk or increase market exposure. Crypto options trading refers to the “derivative” financial instrument that derives its value from the price of another asset — in this case, the underlying cryptocurrency.

Before even thinking about venturing into crypto trading, it is important that one has a comprehensive understanding of the assets and technologies involved.

Bitcoin is the soil from which thousands of other cryptocurrencies have grown.

As with stocks and other financial markets, trading cryptocurrency can be complex, involving a variety of components and requiring knowledge.

Bitcoin launched in 2009 as the first crypto asset and remains the largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization and prevalence.

Over the years, however, an entire industry of other digital assets has come into existence with the assets being tradable for profit.

All other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC are known as altcoins, the largest of which is Ether (ETH).

This guide will explain crypto trading strategies and familiarize you with crypto trading platforms and applications, the components of a trade, the styles of trading and the role of technical and fundamental analysis in creating a comprehensive trading strategy.