please help

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

HELLO EVERYONE!   

 ok so lets pretend that I may or may not want to invest a decent amount into bitcoins. lets say that I have about 5-10k. in the past ive used bitinstant for purchasing my bitcoins. this is not relay a very good option for me because for one they charge a 4% fee for every transaction and second they have a 500 limit per day.

    what would you do if you wanted to buy bitcoins with this much money?
    how would you go about doing so?
    is mt-gox or bitstamp a good idea? i think they offer the option of bank transfers of im not mistaken.

    I have a few wallets one is bitcoin qt the other is multibit. would you keep your money on on of these or would you just keep it on the site of mt-gox or bitstamp?
 

I may have more questions but thanks in advance for all your help. 

P.S. I am some what new to this sight but not new to bitcoins as ive watched them go from 2 dollars to 100 and yes im stil brused from kicking my self for not doing this when they were at ten not at 100.

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[Elwar]

I will post the MtGox way just because that is the way that I know.

Go to http://www.dwolla.com and sign up for an account. Link your dwolla account to your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Go to http://www.mtgox.com and sign up for an account. You will have to fill out a bunch of verification information (scanned drivers license, utility bill, etc). (this will take a few days)

Once your dwolla account is verified, go to dwolla and add funds from your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Once funds are in your dwolla account go to MtGox and do "add funds", choose dwolla. Click on the code they provide and follow the steps.

You will have funds in your MtGox account at that point after a few hours up to a day or so.

From there you can trade at .56% or so.

[Elwar]

After you have your Bitcoins, do a search on this website or google for vanitygen
 
Download the vanitygen.exe and run it (preferably on a computer not connected to the Internet).

Get your public address and private address.

It is up to you on how you wish to safeguard these two addresses. The public address does not need to be safeguarded, you can use it openly. The private address needs to be kept safe. Tattoo it to the bottom of your foot, write it down, print it out, turn it into binary and make a piece of art out of it, etch it into the foundation of your house and cover it with flooring, engrave it into your ring, memorize it, etc...

Send your bitcoin that you want to store for a long time to your public address.

Keep some spending money in your online wallet, however much you do not mind losing. You can keep it on MtGox or wherever.

None of this requires downloading the wallet for those still waiting.

Did I mention you need to keep that private key safe? If you missed that...keep the private key safe, do not lose it!

[thezerg]

I will post the MtGox way just because that is the way that I know.

Go to http://www.dwolla.com and sign up for an account. Link your dwolla account to your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Go to http://www.mtgox.com and sign up for an account. You will have to fill out a bunch of verification information (scanned drivers license, utility bill, etc). (this will take a few days)

Once your dwolla account is verified, go to dwolla and add funds from your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Once funds are in your dwolla account go to MtGox and do "add funds", choose dwolla. Click on the code they provide and follow the steps.

You will have funds in your MtGox account at that point after a few hours up to a day or so.

From there you can trade at .56% or so.

Takes 1 month after dwolla signup before they let you xfer to a virtual currency exchange

[Elwar]

I will post the MtGox way just because that is the way that I know.

Go to http://www.dwolla.com and sign up for an account. Link your dwolla account to your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Go to http://www.mtgox.com and sign up for an account. You will have to fill out a bunch of verification information (scanned drivers license, utility bill, etc). (this will take a few days)

Once your dwolla account is verified, go to dwolla and add funds from your bank account. (this will take a few days)

Once funds are in your dwolla account go to MtGox and do "add funds", choose dwolla. Click on the code they provide and follow the steps.

You will have funds in your MtGox account at that point after a few hours up to a day or so.

From there you can trade at .56% or so.

Takes 1 month after dwolla signup before they let you xfer to a virtual currency exchange

Wow, damn that sucks. I guess policy has changed since I first set it up.

Hopefully with MtGox moving to the US they can bipass dwolla.

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

thank you! I am going to research these more now. im nervous about investing this amount as it is my life's savings,(i am not rich) but optimistic about bitcoin. I am also nervous about just how to keep them safe.  thank you so much!!!

[notme]

With those amounts, you will have to submit identity documents and get verified to use MtGox.  Not that big of a deal, but the current queue is huge, so it could potentially take months for them to process you.  Bitfloor is great, but the liquidity isn't there yet.  If you put down a 10k buy wall, it might show up though.

As for storing bitcoins, I would only trust an exchange if my only other option was a windows PC.  Ideally, I store bitcoins offline.  You can either set up a cheap linux box with armory to hold your wallet or use paper wallets or physical bitcoins.

[Qoheleth]

Elwar already explained a cheap (though slightly slow) way to get money onto the exchanges, so I'll address your other question.

    I have a few wallets one is bitcoin qt the other is multibit. would you keep your money on on of these or would you just keep it on the site of mt-gox or bitstamp?

If you're not actively trading back and forth between BTC and fiat, there is no benefit in keeping your coins on an exchange, and doing so puts you at risk if they ever get hacked or become evil in the future. The safest place for your bitcoins is always in a wallet that you alone control.

What sort of wallet? Well, you already use clients like Multibit and QT - those can work (although you should probably enable encryption to protect your money from malware/badguys taking control of your computer). Alternatively, for money that you don't intend to spend for a long time, you might want to consider something like this, where you generate an address whose private key you can memorize or hide in multiple places, so that even if your computer is destroyed you can retrieve those coins.

Good luck!

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

With those amounts, you will have to submit identity documents and get verified to use MtGox.  Not that big of a deal, but the current queue is huge, so it could potentially take months for them to process you.  Bitfloor is great, but the liquidity isn't there yet.  If you put down a 10k buy wall, it might show up though.

As for storing bitcoins, I would only trust an exchange if my only other option was a windows PC.  Ideally, I store bitcoins offline.  You can either set up a cheap linux box with armory to hold your wallet or use paper wallets or physical bitcoins.

hum maybe i will just buy a few at a time, probably not a 10k wall. just use bitinstant if they have a "high roller" deal and buy everyday for a while. I dont like the idea of wating months on end for me to get the coins.

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

Elwar already explained a cheap (though slightly slow) way to get money onto the exchanges, so I'll address your other question.

    I have a few wallets one is bitcoin qt the other is multibit. would you keep your money on on of these or would you just keep it on the site of mt-gox or bitstamp?

If you're not actively trading back and forth between BTC and fiat, there is no benefit in keeping your coins on an exchange, and doing so puts you at risk if they ever get hacked or become evil in the future. The safest place for your bitcoins is always in a wallet that you alone control.

What sort of wallet? Well, you already use clients like Multibit and QT - those can work (although you should probably enable encryption to protect your money from malware/badguys taking control of your computer). Alternatively, for money that you don't intend to spend for a long time, you might want to consider something like this, where you generate an address whose private key you can memorize or hide in multiple places, so that even if your computer is destroyed you can retrieve those coins.

Good luck!

sounds good, thank you!!!

[thezerg]

With those amounts, you will have to submit identity documents and get verified to use MtGox.  Not that big of a deal, but the current queue is huge, so it could potentially take months for them to process you.  Bitfloor is great, but the liquidity isn't there yet.  If you put down a 10k buy wall, it might show up though.

As for storing bitcoins, I would only trust an exchange if my only other option was a windows PC.  Ideally, I store bitcoins offline.  You can either set up a cheap linux box with armory to hold your wallet or use paper wallets or physical bitcoins.

hum maybe i will just buy a few at a time, probably not a 10k wall. just use bitinstant if they have a "high roller" deal and buy everyday for a while. I dont like the idea of wating months on end for me to get the coins.

If in usa try campbx.  Mail them a check.  Worked gr8 4 me 1 yr ago.  You may still need validate but was just few days.

[BitcoinTate]

You can save yourself some time by using Coinbase and not having to wait for the verification at Gox and Dwolla. They just added an option to allow you to by pass their daily limit. They charge 1% so its cheaper than Bit Instant.

"Due to higher than normal buy volumes, we are unable to provide exact price quotes right now.

Instead of pausing buys entirely, we decided to give people the option to purchase bitcoin at the market price in a few days. Once your USD funds arrive, we will exchange them to bitcoin at the market price on approximately Friday Apr 5, 2013 at 06:47PM MDT.

Note that you can cancel your order at any time up until your bitcoin arrive from the transfer history page.

The market price of bitcoin changes frequently. Below are some recent prices to give you an idea. These do not guarantee what the price will be in a few days."

Your not locked in at rate until several days later but you can buy BTC quicker than waiting for verification at Gox & Dwolla plus trasnfer.

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

You can save yourself some time by using Coinbase and not having to wait for the verification at Gox and Dwolla. They just added an option to allow you to by pass their daily limit. They charge 1% so its cheaper than Bit Instant.

"Due to higher than normal buy volumes, we are unable to provide exact price quotes right now.

Instead of pausing buys entirely, we decided to give people the option to purchase bitcoin at the market price in a few days. Once your USD funds arrive, we will exchange them to bitcoin at the market price on approximately Friday Apr 5, 2013 at 06:47PM MDT.

Note that you can cancel your order at any time up until your bitcoin arrive from the transfer history page.

The market price of bitcoin changes frequently. Below are some recent prices to give you an idea. These do not guarantee what the price will be in a few days."

Your not locked in at rate until several days later buy you can buy BTC quicker than waiting for verification at Gox & Dwolla plus trasnfer.

MR BitcoinTate, thank you so much! IM LOVING coinbase!!!! I have started my account with dowalla, mt gox and coinbase. I like coinbase the best even though they are behind on orders right now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

[BitcoinTate]

You can save yourself some time by using Coinbase and not having to wait for the verification at Gox and Dwolla. They just added an option to allow you to by pass their daily limit. They charge 1% so its cheaper than Bit Instant.

"Due to higher than normal buy volumes, we are unable to provide exact price quotes right now.

Instead of pausing buys entirely, we decided to give people the option to purchase bitcoin at the market price in a few days. Once your USD funds arrive, we will exchange them to bitcoin at the market price on approximately Friday Apr 5, 2013 at 06:47PM MDT.

Note that you can cancel your order at any time up until your bitcoin arrive from the transfer history page.

The market price of bitcoin changes frequently. Below are some recent prices to give you an idea. These do not guarantee what the price will be in a few days."

Your not locked in at rate until several days later buy you can buy BTC quicker than waiting for verification at Gox & Dwolla plus trasnfer.

MR BitcoinTate, thank you so much! IM LOVING coinbase!!!! I have started my account with dowalla, mt gox and coinbase. I like coinbase the best even though they are behind on orders right now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Your welcome! Good luck to you!

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

You can save yourself some time by using Coinbase and not having to wait for the verification at Gox and Dwolla. They just added an option to allow you to by pass their daily limit. They charge 1% so its cheaper than Bit Instant.

"Due to higher than normal buy volumes, we are unable to provide exact price quotes right now.

Instead of pausing buys entirely, we decided to give people the option to purchase bitcoin at the market price in a few days. Once your USD funds arrive, we will exchange them to bitcoin at the market price on approximately Friday Apr 5, 2013 at 06:47PM MDT.

Note that you can cancel your order at any time up until your bitcoin arrive from the transfer history page.

The market price of bitcoin changes frequently. Below are some recent prices to give you an idea. These do not guarantee what the price will be in a few days."

Your not locked in at rate until several days later buy you can buy BTC quicker than waiting for verification at Gox & Dwolla plus trasnfer.

MR BitcoinTate, thank you so much! IM LOVING coinbase!!!! I have started my account with dowalla, mt gox and coinbase. I like coinbase the best even though they are behind on orders right now.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Your welcome! Good luck to you!

and to you -Namaste-