What is a good place to buy my first bitcoins?

[MarbleScooter]

I have decided to begin both swing trading of bitcoins and trading some bitcoins with altcoins on a few smaller exchanges. I will have money each month from a side job to put into this, but I need a good, trusted exchange to buy my first bitcoins from. I have been looking at Gemini.com, but I do not know whether they are good, or if another would be better. I plan to link my bank account, and buy some each month, but I want to avoid having my identity stolen, or having my bank account cleaned out. I am not willing to provide my social security number to any party I do not trust completely.  Also, I am a US citizen, living in America, and using United States Dollars. Any advice on which route I should take would be greatly appreciated.

[sabbathhawk]

there are several exchanges which you can use

bitfinex
poloniex
kraken
bitstamp
gdax
gemini

these are the biggest and most trusted. check them all and decide which one is best for you
as for anonymity you can use localbitcoins...

[Cryptomover]

there are several exchanges which you can use

bitfinex
poloniex
kraken
bitstamp
gdax
gemini

these are the biggest and most trusted. check them all and decide which one is best for you
as for anonymity you can use localbitcoins...

US citizens can't use Bitfinex. Btw I will recommend GDAX for buying bitcoins with usd, while using Bittrex to buy altcoins with bitcoins. Both exchanges are based in US, and GDAX (coinbase) has been there for years with good security and reputation. Bittrex, on the other hand, has been growing and improving, and now is better than poloniex in terms of speed, user interface, and customer supports.

[leslie4u]

Welcome to the family of cryptos. I think once you get into this, you would realize that there is no looking back. To answer your question, my all time favorite is Cryptopia. Other than I prefer are Bittrex and Novaexchange. Word of caution never deal with Yobit.

The good thing about Novaexchange is that here you will find lot of new alt coins that are launched each day. So if you want to know what's happening in the altcoin crypto world, this is one place you wanna look at.

Have a wonderful day.

[bbcolex]

Poloniex, coinbase but it's better if you have a friend who will sell you upfront bitcoins and no fees.

[ByteCrunch]

There are a lot of methods including those mentioned above. You can also find a bitcoin ATM close to you or look for sellers in your area to buy bitcoins in an in-person transaction.
Links:

• https://coinatmradar.com/
• https://localbitcoins.com/

[aardvark15]

I have decided to begin both swing trading of bitcoins and trading some bitcoins with altcoins on a few smaller exchanges. I will have money each month from a side job to put into this, but I need a good, trusted exchange to buy my first bitcoins from. I have been looking at Gemini.com, but I do not know whether they are good, or if another would be better. I plan to link my bank account, and buy some each month, but I want to avoid having my identity stolen, or having my bank account cleaned out. I am not willing to provide my social security number to any party I do not trust completely.  Also, I am a US citizen, living in America, and using United States Dollars. Any advice on which route I should take would be greatly appreciated.

Coinbase is pretty easy to use to buy Bitcoins for American customers. I used them a few years ago to buy my first Bitcoins.

The one negative is that you have to give them some personal information to identify you and you need to link your Coinbase account to a bank account. Once you do that though, it's easy to buy or sell Bitcoins using money from your bank.

[sibisi666]

You can try Bitstamp if you are from Europe, its euro friendly, stable, and reliable
Also, check c-cex, also good exchange, with good rates.
cheers

[banake]

Polo and Bittrex

[DaMut]

i don't recommend POLONIEX,
lately many people complained about this exchanger.indeed you don't need to add your verification to start trading in there.
and the limit for unverification costumer a bit higher other than else.but you should understand this fact,
that they won't steal your verification data/social media but they will steal your coin and money.
so avoid this exchanger.

i prefer to do it on BITTREX.
but before send your coin in there,make sure to activate the phone number and 2fa in order to get 3BTC limit for withdrawal.
do this BEFORE sending your money in there.if you do that,nothing bad will happen.

the best way to do it since you don't want to use your document,buy it in your local exchanger or people,
and send it directly to Bittrex.
you don't need any document to do this

[Ionut Bornea]

Hi,
For UK buyers I recommend https://bittylicious.com

It requires providing ID and address proof/bank statement, but the approval process goes fast and the services have never let me down.

I've brought BTC, Ether, STRATIS so far in the past 6 months and had no problems.

Regards,

[parat8t9]

I think Gemini is a very good place to enter the market, and generally carries cheaper fees than coinbase.

Gemini presently only has BTC and ETH available, so after you obtain them, I'd recommend using Bittrex to diversify into other crypto.

[cynical]

I see that coinbase is linkable with credit cards and bank accounts for buying bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum and it has a separate exchange, gdax.com for trading.

[LTU_btc]

I think that Gemini is good place to buy bitcoins, their fees aren't big. But it doesn't work in some states. You also can take a look at Localbitcoins, Bitstamp, Kraken, Cex.io, Gdax/Coinbase.

Hi,
For UK buyers I recommend https://bittylicious.com

It requires providing ID and address proof/bank statement, but the approval process goes fast and the services have never let me down.

I've brought BTC, Ether, STRATIS so far in the past 6 months and had no problems.

Regards,

Read more carefully what OP asks. He lives in USA, not in UK.

[jmaresca]

I have decided to begin both swing trading of bitcoins and trading some bitcoins with altcoins on a few smaller exchanges. I will have money each month from a side job to put into this, but I need a good, trusted exchange to buy my first bitcoins from. I have been looking at Gemini.com, but I do not know whether they are good, or if another would be better. I plan to link my bank account, and buy some each month, but I want to avoid having my identity stolen, or having my bank account cleaned out. I am not willing to provide my social security number to any party I do not trust completely.  Also, I am a US citizen, living in America, and using United States Dollars. Any advice on which route I should take would be greatly appreciated.

I am in the US too and the first exchange I started using (and still use sometimes presently) is Coinbase. It's US Regulated and very easy to use. If you decide to use Coinbase here is a link that will give you $10
In free bitcoin if you deposit a minimum of $100: https://www.coinbase.com/join/59750d034d3af202774f6d1e

I also use others such as Kraken and Bittrex. They too are based in the US as well however I don't recommend them for someone just starting out using crypto exchanges. They are a little bit more technical and it's probably best to become familiar with making some small purchases with Coinbase in the beginning and then once you feel more comfortable placing crypto orders then you could move to the more technical exchanges and I recommend using Kraken/Bitrexx for that. GDax is also good but it's very technical as well.

Like I said, I am in the US as well so if you need help going through the process I will be more than happy to help you out. It would be my way of "paying it forward" to those who had been there for me when I started out. Just PM if you want some guidance.

[flip4flop]

Having just started myself in the US i would recommend Coinbase as well. To avoid the high transaction fees you can direct deposit from your bank for free althoUgh it takes a few days. Once it clears you can transfer to GDAX for free which is also owned by coinbase that has much lower fees for transactions. Just don't keep all your coins on the exchange. 

[Abs_korleone]

Personally i like Coinbase because of its easy user interface. The fees from paying with creditcard is quiet High, But if you're from Europe you can transfer with SEPA and lower the fee to the minimal.
Bitstamp is Nice too. I use this one Mostly when i need to buy in quickly on a dip with creditcard and don't have time to wait for SEPA transfer. Unlike Coinbase, Bitstamp lowers the creditcard fee based on amount bought.

[redoykhan]

you can use localbitcoins.com or paxfull.com to buy bitcoins

[cynical]

you can use localbitcoins.com or paxfull.com to buy bitcoins

I investigated those two and I think the fees can be a bit high but if you have no other alternative it can be a start

[drubas]

From my perspective the most reliable one is:

--> Coinbase

Great people behind and very easy to handle!

Other platforms I have used for transactions:

- Bitfinex

- Etherdelta

- Shapeshift

-  0x (https://0xproject.com/otc; very good approach)

All the best

B.D.