Bitcoin Forum

I’m a beginner and I need some help with buying altcoins on Poloniex. Sunday I decided to buy some STEEM on my Poloniex account, so I opened my account and clicked on STEEM, and proceeded to buy .08 BTC of STEEM, and then ran into some problems.

My problem is I didn’t understand the SELL ORDER columns. The Price column I understood, but the | STEEM | BTC | Sum (BTC) | columns I didn’t understand. For example here are the numbers in each column. I was not sure what each one stood for except the first one, price.

Price 0.00040278
STEEM 28.04706274 ?
BTC 0.01129680 ?
Sum(BTC) 0.01129680 ?

I knew how much STEEM I wanted to buy, which was 0.08 BTC, but I didn’t know what Price (to buy at) to enter or how much STEEM that each Seller was selling. What if the seller was not selling as much STEEM altcoin as I wanted to buy? How does this work? How do I know how much each Seller is selling so I can fill my order? And how do I add up enough sellers to fill my order? And at what price? I noticed that as I look down the list of Sellers the price goes higher for STEEM. I don’t want to over pay. How do I get the best deal? What seller or sellers should I pick to fill my order?

I never did fill my order for STEEM. I decided to not buy until I understood what all those SELL ORDER columns meant, and to also understand which seller price to choose.

Thanks for your help.
Woodford

It's pretty easy to understand. 1 BTC worth of STEEM sell order + 1.5 BTC worth of STEEM sell order = 2.5 Sum (BTC). Same goes for buy orders.

So, I just used my huge paint skilled for a little explanation :p

https://i.gyazo.com/de38f0c5383e4644e764a5571f68c2a5.png

So if you decide to buy 0.08 BTC, you have to set a buy to 0.00039818 of 0.8 BTC which will result in the following buy :
20.42 STEEM at 0.00039818 BTC/STEEM + 180 STEEM at 0.00039819

Okay. I think I understand.
I first decide how much STEEM I want to buy in BTC.
Next I go to the Sum(BTC) column and (move down Sell orders) and find that equal amount of BTC or greater.
Next I go to the (same row) Price column and copy it and paste it into my Price box.
That will fill my total order by clearing out all the SELL ORDERS above it.
(Assuming no one has already bought them.)
If this happens, I have to CANCEL my order and try again or leave it as an OPEN BUY ORDER.

Is this correct?



Thanks
Woodford

Yes, this is totally correct ;)

I know this sort of thing seems easy to a trader, but to a non-trader it seems weird. I had a hell of a time understanding what bitcoin is also, but I get it now.


Thanks
Woodford