Bitcoin - where to buy?

Scottex99

typeractive said:

HarryGray said:

Hi all,

I know people have their differing views on Bitcoin but I’ve decided it’s time I put 2% of my allocation into cryptocurrency. 

I’m trying to find a website to purchase on - Coinbase charge £20 per £500 invested (4%) which seems extortionate. Does anyone have any other recommendations on a better platform?

HarryGray and everyone else  
I'm in a very similar position. I've been sitting on buying since last April but Covid and personal circumstances made me more wary. I'm looking to purchase in the very same way as you are/did. I'd originally been looking at Binance. The website states 0 fee from using a bank deposit, but this sounds too good to be true. Wondered if you or anyone else had looked into them.
I'm also looking to PCA - just a small amount. If it goes up or down then I'll just ride the storm with it, but as tight as it sounds (well money saving!) I don't want to pay more than necessary to deposit and withdraw my money.
Very interested to hear other people's thoughts on where to buy. 
Thanks  

Buying with £?

Coinbase Pro is 0.5% rather than the 4% on Coinbase Noob. Although there are project videos you can watch on Coinbase, can get a free $50 or so in various coins.

Swissborg I use for my GBP on-ramping. Binance lost their UK banking so you can only top up with card and pay 1.8% from memory. Binance not the easiest to use if you're new too.

Kraken probably has GBP and Bitstamp too.

eToro/Revolut you can get CFDs, I guess their spreads are 2-3%.

End of the day nobody wants to pay 4% but you've already lost many multiples of that 20 quid in opportunity cost by not buying before ATH. BTC can easily move +/- 10% in a day too.

GL!

Scottex99

People who buy Bitcoin / crypto don't have 3 bed semis. Nor do they start businesses. As per FCA research they mostly have zero or negative net assets and are looking for a "shortcut" to get rich quick.

£80k will buy them a nice car but won't do much else, and within a decade or so the car will be a banger and they'll be back where they started. This was the typical experience of net winners during the previous pump.

We all have seen it crash as quickly as it has risen in the past. Who's to say that 24k isn't 10k again in a month or two? 

Perfectly possible, no argument there.

Haha, you've mugged yourself right off there.

Firstly what the F does the FCA know about crypto, smirk.
2018
Asked 31 people 
Half the people spent less than £200

And now you're trying to somehow claim that an 80k win, wouldnt actually be a win because they would buy a depreciating assets and somehow lose money? Bit tenuous dont you think. Its laughable.

Its $64,600 now. It was 28k a couple of months ago, it was 4k when Covid crashed all markets in March 2020. It's going to 100k but it could be 50k tomorrow.

I know well over 20 people with at last 7 figs in crypto, I'm not far off that myself.

Have a nice day

Zola.

forestlands said:

Now into October, read your comments, thank you, wondering where we stand now with buying Bitcoins!  I visited websites, as far as I could see a Bitcoin costs £47.000.00!  Am I right?  Was thinking what about the change if you used a Bitcoin to buy anything! Hope your still getting notice of comments!  Take care!

First and foremost I would recommend really studying bitcoin to understand what you are buying, it will give you conviction when you understand the technology better. 

 I would recommend Coinbase Pro as the fees are low.

Personally, I won't be adding my usual buy amounts at these prices, smaller buys just to add something ... whilst it may go higher and higher over the coming months, I am building up my dry powder and sitting on the sidelines for a dip, as history suggests that will happen.

We are in new territories with ETFs, but we are also at all-time highs and the market is still quite fragile to FUD.. and newbies are often easily scared to sell at the first new bit of media negativity. 

RolandFlagg

He is my advice to the OP:

I love bitcoin/crypto, but it is not for everyone.

Only put in what you can afford to lose. It's very volatile.

If you put in an amount that causes you sleepless nights then it is not worth it.

BUT:

Putting 1-2% of your portfolio into Bitcoin and having a 10-20 year time frame could give you a big upside with little downside.

Here is how I would do that:

Open a Coinbase or Gemini account. These sites have simple interfaces but are not the cheapest fee wise (although I would not get too concerned about that). 

Once joined you can also use Coinbase Pro or Gemini Active Trader. These have lower fees but the interfaces are far more complicated.

PayPal is possibly the easiest way to buy Bitcoin now, but fees are around 2%, which is very high.

Once you have opened an account:

DCA (Dollar Cost Average), also known as drip feeding.

Once a week or a month choose an amount you are comfortable with (for example £30 a month) and buy Bitcoin. Don't look at the price. Don't think about trading it. Just buy.

This method over the long term will mean you are getting an average average (if that makes sense). You don't have to worry about FOMO (Fear of Missing out) or whether some shill on Youtube is telling you Bitcoin is going to crash or moon.

Never ever Panic sell or try to time the market.

Bitcoin often makes most of it's gains only around 10 days of the year, when it moves suddenly up sometimes for no reason.
Staying invested whatever the volatility means you won't miss out on those days.
Just like the stock market, the worst days are often followed by the best.

Just DCA small amounts and think long term. It's fine to take some profits, but fully selling out is often a mistake.
Again, don't try to time the markets by selling high and trying to get back in low. It's almost impossible to do.

Bitcoin will be about supply and demand. If you have it and don't sell it, it will always be yours.

Try to stay off social media and Youtube. 99% of the advice and predictions are nonsense.

The only Youtube channel I watch is Coin Bureau, who are as impartial as it gets.

Linton

RolandFlagg said:

He is my advice to the OP:

I love bitcoin/crypto, but it is not for everyone.

Only put in what you can afford to lose. It's very volatile.

If you put in an amount that causes you sleepless nights then it is not worth it.

BUT:

Putting 1-2% of your portfolio into Bitcoin and having a 10-20 year time frame could give you a big upside with little downside.

Here is how I would do that:

Open a Coinbase or Gemini account. These sites have simple interfaces but are not the cheapest fee wise (although I would not get too concerned about that). 

Once joined you can also use Coinbase Pro or Gemini Active Trader. These have lower fees but the interfaces are far more complicated.

PayPal is possibly the easiest way to buy Bitcoin now, but fees are around 2%, which is very high.

Once you have opened an account:

DCA (Dollar Cost Average), also known as drip feeding.

Once a week or a month choose an amount you are comfortable with (for example £30 a month) and buy Bitcoin. Don't look at the price. Don't think about trading it. Just buy.

This method over the long term will mean you are getting an average average (if that makes sense). You don't have to worry about FOMO (Fear of Missing out) or whether some shill on Youtube is telling you Bitcoin is going to crash or moon.

Never ever Panic sell or try to time the market.

Bitcoin often makes most of it's gains only around 10 days of the year, when it moves suddenly up sometimes for no reason.
Staying invested whatever the volatility means you won't miss out on those days.
Just like the stock market, the worst days are often followed by the best.

Just DCA small amounts and think long term. It's fine to take some profits, but fully selling out is often a mistake.
Again, don't try to time the markets by selling high and trying to get back in low. It's almost impossible to do.

Bitcoin will be about supply and demand. If you have it and don't sell it, it will always be yours.

Try to stay off social media and Youtube. 99% of the advice and predictions are nonsense.

The only Youtube channel I watch is Coin Bureau, who are as impartial as it gets.

Your approach seems very sensible to me.  But if you are only going to put 1-2% of your portfolio into crypto is it really worth the effort of learning what its all about and keeping in ltouch with the latest news?  If it's just for fun or interest, then fine. You could probably learn quite a bit and make new friends with whom you could spend hours talking Crypto.  But it's not going to change your life.  

Though £30/month contributions=£360/year doesn't seem compatible with 1-2% of your portfolio unless you are contributing say £18K /year into other investments.

For serious (ie life changing)  investing my policy is that it is not worth considering any investment of less than 5% of total portfolio.  The long term difference it would make to the final returns would be minimal.

tebbins

Scottex99 said:

Haha, you've mugged yourself right off there.

Firstly what the F does the FCA know about crypto, smirk.
. It's going to 100k but it could be 50k tomorrow.

I know well over 20 people with at last 7 figs in crypto, I'm not far off that myself.

Have a nice day

Really? And you have nothing better to do but post on a forum that isn't about crypto?

webnibbler

RolandFlagg said:

He is my advice to the OP:

I love bitcoin/crypto, but it is not for everyone.

Only put in what you can afford to lose. It's very volatile.

If you put in an amount that causes you sleepless nights then it is not worth it.

BUT:

Putting 1-2% of your portfolio into Bitcoin and having a 10-20 year time frame could give you a big upside with little downside.

Here is how I would do that:

Open a Coinbase or Gemini account. These sites have simple interfaces but are not the cheapest fee wise (although I would not get too concerned about that). 

Once joined you can also use Coinbase Pro or Gemini Active Trader. These have lower fees but the interfaces are far more complicated.

PayPal is possibly the easiest way to buy Bitcoin now, but fees are around 2%, which is very high.

Once you have opened an account:

DCA (Dollar Cost Average), also known as drip feeding.

Once a week or a month choose an amount you are comfortable with (for example £30 a month) and buy Bitcoin. Don't look at the price. Don't think about trading it. Just buy.

This method over the long term will mean you are getting an average average (if that makes sense). You don't have to worry about FOMO (Fear of Missing out) or whether some shill on Youtube is telling you Bitcoin is going to crash or moon.

Never ever Panic sell or try to time the market.

Bitcoin often makes most of it's gains only around 10 days of the year, when it moves suddenly up sometimes for no reason.
Staying invested whatever the volatility means you won't miss out on those days.
Just like the stock market, the worst days are often followed by the best.

Just DCA small amounts and think long term. It's fine to take some profits, but fully selling out is often a mistake.
Again, don't try to time the markets by selling high and trying to get back in low. It's almost impossible to do.

Bitcoin will be about supply and demand. If you have it and don't sell it, it will always be yours.

Try to stay off social media and Youtube. 99% of the advice and predictions are nonsense.

The only Youtube channel I watch is Coin Bureau, who are as impartial as it gets.

This is great advice for a casual investor who just wants to allocate a sensible percentage of their portfolio into crypto. It's exactly what I do.

Would just add that rebalancing is important with the rest of your portfolio. If the 2% becomes 25% over ten years it's important to sell down and rebalance your portfolio. This will help to keep the risk under control and capture any profits, especially if crypto has a low correlation with equity markets.

Agree about Coin Bureau on YouTube. It's one of the few channels that is outside the moonboy echo chamber that all the other content creators seem to be part of.

Scottex99

tebbins said:

Scottex99 said:

Haha, you've mugged yourself right off there.

Firstly what the F does the FCA know about crypto, smirk.
. It's going to 100k but it could be 50k tomorrow.

I know well over 20 people with at last 7 figs in crypto, I'm not far off that myself.

Have a nice day

Really? And you have nothing better to do but post on a forum that isn't about crypto?

Ummm pretty sure this thread is called “Bitcoin - Where to buy” 

And I’ve already answered that query, pretty well imo

Scottex99

UpOnly is the best channel for me, some serious big hitter guests on there and good chat. But it’s not for novices so probably a lot others much more well suited.

On the 1-2% thing, depends on your bankroll and I’m in no way saying that this is likely or not a big fluke but you can do 10x or more on your investments with the right picks. I’ve held an altcoin that did a 50x in a month before.

Obviously small punts in things like these and BTC or ETH aren’t doing a 20x anytime soon but it “can” happen. 

BTC tends to on mad rallies, it’s likely +50% in weeks as it hit ATH yesterday.

But on the flipside, slow and steady DCA is much more suitable as someone already said. You’re investing in the future of money after all, wink wink

tebbins

Scottex99 said:

tebbins said:

Scottex99 said:

Haha, you've mugged yourself right off there.

Firstly what the F does the FCA know about crypto, smirk.
. It's going to 100k but it could be 50k tomorrow.

I know well over 20 people with at last 7 figs in crypto, I'm not far off that myself.

Have a nice day

Really? And you have nothing better to do but post on a forum that isn't about crypto?

Ummm pretty sure this thread is called “Bitcoin - Where to buy” 

And I’ve already answered that query, pretty well imo

I would love to see the evidence of these 20 "crypto millionaire friends".