This guide is aimed at those who are new to cryptocurrency and want to get involved at a basic level in the trending cryptocurrency market by buying their first coins and holding them. 

Note: This guide is not for those who want to actively trade coins on a daily basis as there are better-suited and more cost-effective options such as trading on an exchange like Binance.

Coinbase is a well-established, trusted and easy-to-use platform for accessing the broader crypto-economy. The company was started back in 2012 and since then has grown immensely to enable millions of people to join the crypto revolution that is currently happening. They offer services for both individual and corporate entities such as borrowing, lending, buying, selling, investing, trusts, card services, wallets, custody, commerce and much more.

The reason I recommend Coinbase for beginners is that it is extremely user-friendly, easy to navigate and straightforward to use. They have a lot of guides and material aimed at new users to help them on their crypto journey and I recommend checking out their Crypto basics section if you want to learn more about cryptocurrency and trading in general.

As well as their website, Coinbase also has an iOS and Android app available which is free to download. This allows you to conveniently and easily buy, sell and check your crypto portfolio on the go. 

You want to buy crypto, great, but where do you keep your coins? Unlike fiat currency which can be kept in a bank account or cash, cryptocurrency is a digital asset and as such you will need a digital wallet to hold it. Not to worry though! Upon signing up to Coinbase, a "hosted" wallet is automatically created for you - this is where your coins will be held.

It's worth remembering that a hosted wallet is a third-party wallet and therefore they are ultimately the ones actually holding your crypto. So be sure to choose a platform you trust! We discuss Coinbase security and insurance later on so don't worry.

Read more about the different types of digital wallets here.

Coinbase Earn is a fantastic feature for new users, it basically encourages people to learn about different coins through a series of informative videos followed by an easy Q&A. Upon completing sections successfully you a rewarded a certain amount of the coin you just learned about which gets automatically added to your account.

If you are not yet ready to commit your own funds to buy crypto, Coinbase Earn can be a great alternative way to get hold of some free crypto to get started with. Once you have created your Coinbase account be sure to check it out.

In a modern technological world where we are always hearing about cyber threats, internet scams and hackers stealing our information, the thought of buying digital currency will be quite daunting for many. Coinbase has many policies, procedures and practices to ensure customer data and funds are kept secure at all times. 

Secure storage - 98% of customer funds are stored offline

Insurance - USD cash balances covered by FDIC up to $250,000

Industry best practices - 2-Step authentication, AES-256 encryption for wallets, mandatory strong password policy

Please remember that cryptocurrency is not legal tender and is not backed by the government. In case of a covered security event, Coinbase will endeavor to make you whole. However, total losses may exceed insurance recoveries so your funds may still be lost. 

There is no cost to store fiat or cryptocurrency.

Coinbase may charge fees when you buy, sell, or convert cryptocurrencies. Fees are calculated at the time you place your order and may be determined by a combination of factors including the selected payment method, the size of the order, and market conditions such as volatility and liquidity. The applicable fees will be listed in the trade preview screen which will be surfaced before you submit your transaction, and may differ for similar transactions.

Additionally, Coinbase includes a spread in the price when you buy or sell cryptocurrencies or in the exchange rate when you convert cryptocurrencies. This allows us to temporarily lock in a price for trade execution while you review the transaction details prior to submitting your transaction.

At the time of writing, Coinbase offers 88 different coins including, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and many more. Their list of supported currencies continues to grow and a full up-to-date list can be found here.

Hold - A lot of customers hold onto their crypto in the hope that its value goes up

Spend - Use your Bitcoin to pay for travel, shop online, eat at restaurants, and more. More and more places accept Bitcoin every day

Sell - Selling crypto on Coinbase is easy, and you can withdraw your proceeds to your bank or PayPal account

Transfer - Unlike sending money overseas, you can send crypto to anyone in the world virtually instantly

Convert - Want to own other crypto? You could, for example, convert any portion of your Bitcoin balance to another crypto

Creating a Coinbase account is simple, straightforward and can be completed in under 10 minutes. All customers are required to complete verify their identity and add a bank account in order to buy and sell crypto through Coinbase.

A government-issued photo ID (In US? Can use Driver License or ID Card. Outside US? Passport or National Identity Card)

A phone number to receive verification texts

Go to www.coinbase.com (this is a referral link that gets you £7/$10 in free bitcoin)

Coinbase will send a verification email to your specified email address

Select "Verify Email Address" in the email you received from Coinbase.com. This email will be from no-reply@coinbase.com 

Clicking the link in the email will take you back to Coinbase.com

You’ll need to sign back in using the email and password you recently entered to complete the email verification process

When you sign back in you will be prompted to add a phone number

Complete the steps on screen to verify your mobile number

Enter the information shown on your valid government-issued photo ID — you’ll need to submit a photo of this ID later

This completes the application process. Please wait until you receive further instructions via email

Recommended: Set up a 2-step verification app to help protect against unauthorized account access

View more countries for specific payment method information.

Now that your account is set up, you're ready to buy your first coin! The steps below are taken from Coinbase's guide so you can be sure you are following the correct procedure.

Select Buy/Sell on the upper right-hand side

Click the Buy field to select the asset you'd like to purchase

Enter the amount you'd like to buy denominated in crypto or your local currency

Click Preview Buy to confirm your purchase (you can always click the back arrow to make a change)

If the details are correct, click Buy to complete your purchase

Congratulations, you have just bought your first coin!

Money left my bank account where is my digital currency?

New to crypto? No problem. This is a beginner's guide for the easiest and safest way to start buying cryptocurrency using Coinbase. How to set up an account? How to fund your account? What fees are involved? And how to buy your first coin on Coinbase?

Beginner's Guide: Easiest Way To Start Buying Cryptocurrency

When we want to buy or sell cryptocurrency, we need to create an "order" that will eventually get "filled". An order is basically a request to say "I want to buy this coin at this price". When the order is executed, the order gets filled and then deleted. There are 3 main types of orders that you should know about, including what they are, how to use them and when to use them.

The screenshot examples below are from the Binance exchange, however, all 3 order types will be applicable no matter what exchange you trade on.

Executed - Execution is the completion of a buy or sell order for a security. The execution of an order occurs when it gets filled, not when the investor places it.

Filled - A fill is an executed order. It is the action of completing or satisfying an order for a security or commodity.

Slippage - Slippage refers to the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is executed.

A market order is an order to buy or sell a coin at the best available price (the "market" price) at that moment in time. A market order will get executed ("filled") almost immediately however you do not have any control over the price at which the order is executed.

A market order is the simplest and most straightforward of the 3 types to create.

In the above view, you can see the trading view for BTC/USDT with the "BUY" market order form open. The green-bordered boxes are showing the current price for 1 BTC in USDT. Looking at the large red box you can see that the value for "Price" is set to "Market" - this is unchangeable and indicates that you will not be able to choose the price you pay for BTC. 

In the buy scenario, as shown above, all you would need to do is enter the amount of USDT you would like to sell in order to buy BTC and then click "Buy BTC". 

The market order would get filled almost immediately at the current market price (green box).

Similarly, if you were looking to sell BTC using a market order, then you would first select the "SELL" tab and then just enter the amount of BTC you want to sell. 

It is worth noting, that depending on how much BTC you sold or bought, your market order may get filled as a group of smaller trades each at similar but different prices. This is due to something called "slippage" which can occur when a large order is executed but there isn't enough volume at the current market price to fill the order as a single trade. You can prevent this using limit or stop orders.

You want to buy a coin quickly regardless of the price

The market is moving quickly and you need to exit fast

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a coin at a specific, pre-determined price. A limit order will not execute unless the coin's price meets that value. 

A limit order ensures you only pay a specific or better price for a coin, as such they are a more preferred option compared to market orders. 

In the above view, you can see the trading view for BNB/USDT with the "SELL" limit order form open. The bright green-bordered boxes are showing the current price for 1 BNB in USDT. The blue boxes are showing how much BNB is available to sell and how much of the available BNB will be sold when creating the limit order. The red box is the value for "Price" and is chosen by you. The dark green box shows how much USDT you will get for selling the specified amount of BNB.

In the buy scenario, you would enter the price at which you want to pay for BNB (in USDT), then enter the amount of BNB you would like to buy at that price and finally click "Buy BNB". Obviously, the amount of BNB you could buy is limited by the amount of USDT you have available.

The limit order would get created but not executed until the price of BNB reached the price defined in the order.

In the sell scenario, like in the above screenshot, then you would enter the price at which you want to sell BNB (in USDT), then enter the amount of BNB you would like to sell at that price and finally click "Sell BNB". Obviously, the amount of BNB you could sell is limited by the amount of BNB you have available.


It is worth noting, that there is no guarantee that the coin will reach your set price, but if it does your limit entry order would be triggered and your position opened. 

Also in situations where large, volatile price movements occur, even if your limit order gets triggered it may be the case that your limit order doesn't get executed. This is because there may be orders ahead of yours that eliminate the availability of the coin at the limit price.

You can mitigate these risks by using stop orders.

You want to buy a coin at a specific price

You want to sell a coin at a specific price

Example: If you want to buy Apple stock at $200, but the current market price is $205, you could set a limit order to buy the shares when the price drops to $200. 

 A stop-limit order is a conditional order that creates a limit order once the "stop" price has been triggered. As such, it has both a stop price and a limit price. When the stop price is reached, it triggers the limit order. The limit price is the specific price of the limit order the stop price triggers.

Stop-limit orders can be used in a variety of ways to help mitigate risks by creating a limit order once a certain price has been met. 

In the above view, you can see the trading view for BNB/USDT with the "SELL" stop-limit order form open. The bright green-bordered boxes are showing the current price for 1 BNB in USDT. The blue boxes are showing how much BNB is available to sell and how much of the available BNB will be sold when creating the stop-limit order. The red boxes show the values for the "Stop" and "Limit" prices that are chosen by you. The dark green box shows how much USDT you will get for selling the specified amount of BNB.

In the buy scenario, you would enter the stop and limit price (in USDT) at which you want a buy limit order to be created for a given stop price. Then enter the amount of BNB you would like to buy at the limit price and finally click "Buy BNB". Obviously, the amount of BNB you could buy is limited by the amount of USDT you have available.

Once your stop price has been reached, the limit order is immediately placed on the order book.

In the sell scenario, like in the above screenshot, then you would enter the stop and limit price (in USDT) at which you want a sell limit order to be created for a given stop price. Then enter the amount of BNB you would like to sell at the limit price and finally click "Buy BNB". Obviously, the amount of BNB you could sell is limited by the amount of BNB you have available.

You want more certainty about an order being fulfilled

You anticipate a price breakout and want to create a buy order if the price reaches a certain point

You anticipate a significant price fall and want to create a sell order if the price falls to a certain level

Example: If the price of a coin was $500 and we thought it was going to increase significantly but we were not sure by how much, we could create a sell stop-limit order, with a stop price of $550 and a limit price of $540. This would mean that if we were correct and the price rapidly rose to above $550, then the stop price would be triggered and a sell limit order of $540 would be created which would act as a "safety net" and prevent us from taking loses if the price fell back down below $540.


The stop and limit prices can be the same. However, it’s recommended for sell orders to set your stop price (trigger price) slightly higher than the limit price. The price difference allows for a safety gap in price between the time the order is triggered and when it is fulfilled.

For buy orders, set your stop price slightly lower than the limit price. This will also reduce the risk of your order not being fulfilled.

Beginners guide explaining what market, limit and stop (stop-limit) orders are when trading cryptocurrency and when to use each type

Beginner's Guide: The 3 Order Types - Market, Limit & Stop

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