# About to invest in crypto for the first time.



## tom1ie (16 Aug 2018)

Hi all 
I have signed up to Coinbase and bittrex with the view to purchasing some bitcoin and then neo altcoin. 
 I feel neo is in a dip and will bounce back up soon. 
I have €1000 to invest and which I can afford to loose, but I want to start off small and invest maybe €100 first and see how I go. 
So do I need to link my bank account to coinbase, or should I just transfer to coinbase using the visa option? Do I use the coinbase wallet or should I use a hardware wallet?
I take it I can’t buy neo using “real cash”, I need to purchase bitcoin first and then use that to get neo?
Will I get charged fees going from real cash -to bitcoin -to neo and then the same on the way out? If so how much are the fees?
What’s the story with cgt? I take it it’s applicable to this?
Sorry for all the questions and again if they’re ridiculous I do apologise. 
Thanks.


----------



## fuse (17 Aug 2018)

Hi Tom, 

Yep be prepared to lose it. Things have been going downhill the last few months, but who knows whats next. 

You don't need to link bank account, probably better off not doing that if you're gonna be looking for mortgage etc. in future. 
Transfer via visa is handy, once you're verified. Use Coinbase to store funds that you want to trade, or have ready to sell quickly. I wouldn't have a problem keeping 100e there. Just make sure any crypto-related account you set up has a unique secure password and 2fa turned on. Use a password manager like 1password, lastpass etc. to keep track of logins. I haven't bothered with a hardware wallet, as  I feel there's as much risk in losing/damaging a physical device. 
Set up a personal wallet on your laptop/phone for funds you're holding. 

You'll get charged transaction fees when converting, but they're small and transparent on exchanges.
You'll need to purchase BTC or ETH first with your Eur and from them you can buy altcoins.


----------



## Leo (17 Aug 2018)

I think a hardware wallet is a must have when you get into more serious amounts, they can be recovered should you lose or damage the physical device.

It might also be advisable to use a different email address for your crypto dealings than you use for day-to-day usage. Bigger players should probably even use a different device for management of their crypto assets to minimise the chances of malware compromising their holdings.


----------



## tecate (17 Aug 2018)

tom1ie said:


> I have signed up to Coinbase and bittrex with the view to purchasing some bitcoin and then neo altcoin. So do I need to link my bank account to coinbase, or should I just transfer to coinbase using the visa option?
> I take it I can’t buy neo using “real cash”, I need to purchase bitcoin first and then use that to get neo?  Will I get charged fees going from real cash -to bitcoin -to neo and then the same on the way out? If so how much are the fees?


Check the fees section on the coinbase and bittrex websites.  Coinbase tend to have higher fees than their sister company coinbase pro (formerly gdax).  I'm guessing bittrex will have the better rates but you'll have to go and check.
If you pay using visa, I suspect the rates will be more expensive than doing a sepa transfer but again, check the fees section.
One of the current issues is that if you decide to buy an 'altcoin', you have to first buy into bitcoin or ethereum.  From a fees point of view, its not efficient.  As time goes on, more and more usd and eur trading pairs are being added.
Be aware that it also means that if bitcoin suffers, altcoins do also.  That will remain to be the case until there is a proper network of direct trading pairs.



tom1ie said:


> I feel neo is in a dip and will bounce back up soon.


See above - be aware that the fortunes of bitcoin can affect your Neo holding.  Crypto is highly volatile and high risk.  Probably best to determine a coin or coins that you believe have utility in the long term.  I tend to look at projects that are showing signs of real world adoption (eg. collaborations with industry, etc.).  Most coins are simply not going to be around soon enough (as they don't have utility).
It's probably best to think in terms of the longer term.  Whatever chance you have with that, trying to day trade or swing trade crypto is rough.



tom1ie said:


> Do I use the coinbase wallet or should I use a hardware wallet?


A harware wallet like Trezor or Ledger Nano will cost you around €100. You can use the exchanges for the amount you mentioned.  However, make sure your machine is free of malware and the like and that you have a good regime in that respect.



tom1ie said:


> What’s the story with cgt? I take it it’s applicable to this?


Of course.


----------



## Clare12 (18 Aug 2018)

Join Revolut, transfer by debit card from your bank account to Revolut, this is instant, set up an iban transfer to coinbase once you have registered with coinbase, the EFT details can be found on the deposit tab in coinbase, the first transfer might take a couple of days but all subsequent will be within 24 hours, once the euro amount arrives in your coinbase, transfer to coinbase pro, you can do limit purchases free of fees, buy ethereum, set up a binance account, transfer ethereum across and buy one BNB token, in the settings in binance set the account to pay for fees using the BNB token, this gives 25% reduction in fees, was 50%, buy whatever number of neo with ethereum. The only fees above are on the purchases in binance, all others are free of fees.


----------



## tecate (19 Aug 2018)

Clare12 said:


> Join Revolut, transfer by debit card from your bank account to Revolut, this is instant, set up an iban transfer to coinbase


Confused on this bit...whats the difference in doing an iban from your bank account?



Clare12 said:


> transfer to coinbase pro, you can do limit purchases free of fees,


Gdax/Coinbase Pro don't charge any transaction fees on Limit Orders?  If not there, surely they monetise at some stage in the process?
Even though I opened a coinbase account, it took so mahy months of nonsense to achieve that - that I found other exchanges I was happy with...so never ended up checking them out.


----------



## Clare12 (19 Aug 2018)

A transfer from bank account to coinbase takes forever I found, often a week or more whereas topping up Revolut with debit card was instant and transfer to coinbase was often same-day.
I had no issue with account verification on coinbase site, hence the reason I have remained with them.
And limit transactions are free of any fee charges on coinbase pro but not on coinbase.


----------



## Blackrock1 (19 Aug 2018)

you can use revolut to speculate on a few of them as well, the main ones at least just covert your euro to bitcoin.


----------



## tecate (20 Aug 2018)

Clare12 said:


> whereas topping up Revolut with debit card was instant and transfer to coinbase was often same-day.


Had heard it was a little faster alright but a week seems rough for bank a/c to coinbase.



Clare12 said:


> I had no issue with account verification on coinbase site, hence the reason I have remained with them.


I was trying to get that sorted after the big December surge so no doubt they were snowed under with new account requests.  It was also a case of me wanting to change address from one country to another - and this seemed to trip them up no end...they didn't seem to know how to deal with it and left it linger for months...until I tried again and it was the same...and then eventually one day they made the change (I'd long since started using other exchanges at that point).


Blackrock1 said:


> you can use revolut to speculate on a few of them as well, the main ones at least just covert your euro to bitcoin.


Hmm, you can and it's no harm to see them go that way.  However, their rates of exchange don't represent value and you can't remove crypto from your revolut account which is very restrictive.


----------



## Zenith63 (20 Aug 2018)

Another option, if holding the currency yourself is not high on the agenda, would be to open a spreadbetting account and use that to bet on the BTC/EUR or NEO/EUR currency pair.  You'd avoid all risk/hassle of holding the crypto yourself and any gains would be tax-free.  If you leave your leverage at 1:1 (or margin at 100%), you won't pay any financing fees and will be taking the same risk as buying the crypto yourself.


----------

