THE SIMPLEST WAY TO GET YOUR PARENTS STARTED IN CRYPTO TRADING
So I recently started helping my parents get into crypto-trading. This can be difficult for individuals my parents age who didn't grow up with computers. Hell, I'm 30 and it took me a while to get the hang of this, and I'm still learning everyday. Also, it's hard to find a good starting point for people of any age as there is so much misinformation floating around the net.
I thought the best way to help teach others and to make Crypto more main stream was to post emails that are going back forth between my Father and I. Hopefully, over time, an individual can read this simplistic emails and learn how to dive into the world of Crypto.
This guide will apply to most people in the United States. I'll be posting my next email about wallets soon which will build on this. Enjoy, and criticism is always welcome. Thanks for reading.
Hey Dad,
Below are the two links we use to trade. We start by turning USD into either Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC). We almost always go with ETH as BTC is currently experiencing incredibly slow transaction times for a multitude of reasons (technology, nerd politics etc.). Also, we all believe ETH has the brightest future so it's easy to just buy that, keep what you want and move the rest into other options, if you choose.
So you will start with gemini.com. They are a NY based company run by the Winklevoss Twins. They were the ones who supposedly got ripped off by Zuckerberg and Facebook. You'll need to confirm your identity with a drivers licence I believe. It's easy but it'll take 7-10 days as they have seen a big increase in business recently.
It only accepts USD for BTC or ETH. You need to sign up here first. If you don't use a major bank like Wells Fargo, you'll need to do a one time wire transfer. After it's accepted, you can then make ACH transfers of $500 per day. Your money is in your account immediately and you can buy and sell ETH and BTC. However, you cannot remove it from Gemini's exchange for 4-5 days while they confirm the ACH transfer.
Once that money clears, you can then move it to bittrex.com. This is the exchange we feel is the safest, provides the most options in terms of cryptocurrency, and the most user friendly. Moving cryptocurrency is as simple as copying and pasting a string of alpha and numerical characters into the correct boxes. It'll be easiest to show you once you own some ETH and are ready to move it.
Once you decide what you want to buy on Bittrex, you need to get it off the exchange. If your coins are stored on the exchange, there is greater risk of loss from hacking, exchange collapse etc. Depending on what you decide you want, I can store it for you. I bought a piece of actual hardware that is made specially for cryptocurrency and is considered the safest option. However, certain coins aren't able to be held on that, so depending on what you have I'll have to get specific "wallets." Wallets are simply software that store data and are encrypted.
The thing I'll say is you'll want to enable two-factor-authentication for all of these exchanges. You'll want to download an app called authy, which generates random strings of numbers every 30 seconds. You can only enter you account by first getting on a browser and entering your email and password. Then you'll have to go to authy on your phone and then enter the random string of numbers for that exchange. Necessary security as if the private keys are stolen, they are not recoverable in any way. The transaction would be sent to an untraceable account and it would be gone forever.
If you ever want to cash out, you'll simply trade your stuff back to ETH, move it to Gemini and then trade it for USD. ETH transactions take roughly 5 minutes, but that can vary a bit. Also, you can pay more and it'll happen faster. The trading fees and moving fees are minimal. like 10-50 cents depending on the coin etc. That is total, regardless of amount.
There will be questions along the way, so let me know.
Love,
Son