Bitcoin Forum

Hi! I have decided to take the plunge into bitcoin. I have a decent amount to invest but I have read a lot about bad exchanges and thefts. What are the most trusted ones? I plan to store it in the regular client software ony my computer but I want to be sure I can withdrawal it from the exchange after I buy.

This discussion (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=576887.0) about exchanges may help u in deciding one. Looks like u want have it as an investment over trading. So its better to avoid real time exchanges in general. Buy it from a trusted Bitcoin shop depending upon your location, e.g. Coinbase.com, Bitcoin.nl etc. Dont store the coins in their wallet, even if they offer one. Get it to Bitcoin-QT or Blockchain.info and create a paper wallet to physically preserve the private key.

Welcome aboard,

good exchage depends on your location. US, or out of US?
I'm in EU and can recommend you localbitcoins, just check for trusted sellers and you can have btc in 15 minutes.

yes I plan to buy it and keep it long term. So the exchanges are more for day traders then?

Would a flash drive or a cd be good enough for security? I haven't read up on paper wallets yet but that seems like a logical next step. Thank you for the advice.

I am in the US. The local thing sounds like a good way to go. I hate giving my id and personal details for everything. Thanks!

yeah, thats exactly what you have to do at most of exchanges. try localbitcoins. I dont know how in US, but here is lot of local traders.

its reallty simple, just find a seller, trusted one. better someone with same bank, which makes it really fast.
Check, or wait, if he is on line, fill in how much you want to buy, and you have 90 minutes to agreed on details of payment via private chat, then pay or you can cancel trade.

it's just kind of escrow, they block his BTC (fixed price) and in you confirm payment, he can only release them to you, after he check his account.  

Yeah, I would recommend localbitcoins.com (The URL is that, or something very similar). It's far better than having to give out your ID and various other information to people you don't exactly know.

Be away, though, that you should always be cautious when dealing with people there. Choose places that will have lots of people, but no popular enough that everyone would stare at you and try to figure out what the two of you are doing. Just makes it more pleasant.

And while you're doing said exchange, hand the money over at the same time as you send it. Have both parties look at it an confirm it was sent. (I'd also recommend waiting until the transaction is confirmed, to prevent any "mistakes" and the "transaction wouldn't go through" and the like).

Other than that, if you're going to sell your BTC, you HAVE to take gambles. It's harder setting up local transactions than it is on the internet. If you think the price is going to go down, try to sell IMMEDIATELY. Once the price starts going down, it's going down and don't expect to sell it locally for a while.

I make this. I've Bitcoin Core 0.9.1 on my system. and when I want to exchange, I seek either trusted local exchanger or online one.

Thanks for the information guys. Local Bitcoins seems like the way to go. I am no tax dodger but I prefer to keep my purchases private.

Where in the US?

If you are anywhere near Chicago, I'd be happy to help you get started.

I appreciate the offer but the distance might make it tough. I am in Western PA. I have been to Chicago many times. I usually stay at the Palmer House downtown. I saw my first game at Soldier field last year. My Bengals played well but fell apart in the second half.  ??? 

Hi bro. Good luck for your permanence in Bitcoin :)

So, I would advice you that if you want to buy bitcoin in total security, buy it on www.btc-e.com, deposit with a credit-card and then buy btc at the lowest price of market !

That's safey :)

none of the exchanges are to be trusted, to be honest. coinbase is not a real exchange, and is probably the most trustworthy of the lot. Bitfinex, to be honest, is very shady IMO, and now that Bistamp liquidity has been removed from its order books, it is a very illiquid exchange. to just buy (and not trade) Bitstamp is worth looking into.

BTC-e is not safe, it has strict rules on withdraw. Bitstamp is working like a charm if you whant to buy only. Never tryed to sell there, but it should be fine too.

I haven't follow bitstamp news recently. Have anything bad happened to it?  ???

well, some people have been complaining that they have been getting increasingly invasive with KYC procedures. some have suggested that this may be a tactic to stall on withdrawals (suggesting insolvency), but that seems unlikely to me.

I have heard of the first part (people having verified and done lots of trades suddenly need to answer a long list of KYC questions, before he can do further withdrawals or trades) but not the latter part.

Thanks for your clarification. :)

KYC/AML is a legitimate "hoop" to have to jump through. If, after you have jumped through this hoop you still expericne delays then you may have other issues. 

You can trust bitstamp, huobi and btc-e , i would be carefull with others. If you have 10k$+ than be carefull anyways.