USD to Bitcoin to Altcoin and back: investment risks?

[kreut]

Hi,

Day 2 of getting my feet wet with crypto, so sorry for the noob question...

I've opened up a Coinbase Account and am going to use Bittrex to buy/sell some alt coins.  I understand that I need to buy Bitcoins first on Coinbase (GDAX), then send them over to Bittrex for the alt coin purchase.  So, it sounds like the flow is:

Desposit USD in Coinbase -> Buy Bitcoin on GDAX -> Send to Bittrex -> Buy Alt Coin on Bittrex

Then, when I want to withdraw USD, I'll need to:

Sell Alt Coin for Bitcoin on Bittrex -> Send bitcoins to Coinbase (GDAX) -> Sell bitcoin for USD -> Withrdaw from Coinbase

Is this the correct flow?  And if so, since I'm making 2 conversions (USD <-> Bitcoin <-> Altcoin), couldn't there be a major fluctuation before I complete my trade?  For example, the Altcoin goes way up, I convert it to Bitcoin, then Bitcoin happens to go way down, then I convert it to USD, ultimately losing money?

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[TryNinja]

-snip-

Yes. That's the fastest way with most coins that don't have a USD pair at the exchange. Unfortunally, flutuations may happen. Especially if the exchange you are using (Bittrex) takes some time to proccess your deposit/withdraw.

[kreut]

Thanks so much!

[odolvlobo]

Desposit USD in Coinbase -> Buy Bitcoin on GDAX -> Send to Bittrex -> Buy Alt Coin on Bittrex
Sell Alt Coin for Bitcoin on Bittrex -> Send bitcoins to Coinbase (GDAX) -> Sell bitcoin for USD -> Withrdaw from Coinbase

Is this the correct flow?  And if so, since I'm making 2 conversions (USD <-> Bitcoin <-> Altcoin), couldn't there be a major fluctuation before I complete my trade?  For example, the Altcoin goes way up, I convert it to Bitcoin, then Bitcoin happens to go way down, then I convert it to USD, ultimately losing money?

You are exposed to risk for the longest period of time when you send bitcoins between coinbase and bittrex. The other steps are quick. In general, the BTC/USD rate doesn't change quickly enough for that to be a major concern.

[mx667]

Why dont you just buy one crypto and then convert it to usd or local bank ?
Why you have to convert it to bitcoin and then convert again in other currency ?
Just buy or collect the bitcoin, and when the price is good you can sell it.
Isnt that simple ? Instead of convert the money twice. 

[john2231]

I think it is a long journey and you are wasting the fee also if you are doing this much better if you have a debit or credit card better to trade in cex.io use your debit card and buy bitcoin there and trade some altcoin there and you can also sell altcoin into fiat that you can withdraw it using your debit card this i think much less fee and time consuming..
If you are buy in coinbase and transfer your bitcoin other exchange site just to trade altcoin and withdraw its time consuming honestly..

[TryNinja]

I think it is a long journey and you are wasting the fee also if you are doing this much better if you have a debit or credit card better to trade in cex.io use your debit card and buy bitcoin there and trade some altcoin there and you can also sell altcoin into fiat that you can withdraw it using your debit card this i think much less fee and time consuming..
If you are buy in coinbase and transfer your bitcoin other exchange site just to trade altcoin and withdraw its time consuming honestly..

You will probably end up paying more if you buy with a credit card. You don't have to pay any fee when you Bitcoin buy with GDAX, while most credit card exchanges will charge you something close to 5% (or even more) per transaction.

I would say that the method described by OP is the most profitable one. Price flutuations may be irrelevant if he is increasing his Bitcoin holdings by trading his altcoins.

[aardvark15]

Hi,

Day 2 of getting my feet wet with crypto, so sorry for the noob question...

I've opened up a Coinbase Account and am going to use Bittrex to buy/sell some alt coins.  I understand that I need to buy Bitcoins first on Coinbase (GDAX), then send them over to Bittrex for the alt coin purchase.  So, it sounds like the flow is:

Desposit USD in Coinbase -> Buy Bitcoin on GDAX -> Send to Bittrex -> Buy Alt Coin on Bittrex

Then, when I want to withdraw USD, I'll need to:

Sell Alt Coin for Bitcoin on Bittrex -> Send bitcoins to Coinbase (GDAX) -> Sell bitcoin for USD -> Withrdaw from Coinbase

Is this the correct flow?  And if so, since I'm making 2 conversions (USD <-> Bitcoin <-> Altcoin), couldn't there be a major fluctuation before I complete my trade?  For example, the Altcoin goes way up, I convert it to Bitcoin, then Bitcoin happens to go way down, then I convert it to USD, ultimately losing money?

You don't actually deposit USD into Coinbase. At least that's not the way I do it. You link your bank account to Coinbase and make a buy order for Bitcoins from your Coinbase account. Coinbase will take the funds from your bank account. This will eliminate one of the steps in the process.

The same is true when selling. Once you have Bitcoins back on Coinbase, you sell and Coinbase will move USD back to your bank account. One less step for buying and selling than you are showing.

It's been a while since I bought or sold on Coinbase but that is how I remember the process working. I don't recall that they held USD on the site.

[kreut]

The same is true when selling. Once you have Bitcoins back on Coinbase, you sell and Coinbase will move USD back to your bank account. One less step for buying and selling than you are showing.

The selling part is what I'm concerned about since isn't there a potential lag between having my Bitcoin on Bittrex and its finding its way over to Coinbase? 

With that in mind, I just checked out cex.io as recommended by john2231.  Assuming I do a bank transfer (free), wouldn't this exchange make more sense than the process I described?  I'm now wondering if Coinbase/GDAX are *really* meant for folks who are just interested in BTC, ETH, LTC while other exchanges are geared towards people who want to dive into different alt coins...

[pperi041]

The same is true when selling. Once you have Bitcoins back on Coinbase, you sell and Coinbase will move USD back to your bank account. One less step for buying and selling than you are showing.

The selling part is what I'm concerned about since isn't there a potential lag between having my Bitcoin on Bittrex and its finding its way over to Coinbase? 

With that in mind, I just checked out cex.io as recommended by john2231.  Assuming I do a bank transfer (free), wouldn't this exchange make more sense than the process I described?  I'm now wondering if Coinbase/GDAX are *really* meant for folks who are just interested in BTC, ETH, LTC while other exchanges are geared towards people who want to dive into different alt coins...

check out liqui.io for multiple Alt coin options and no deposit/withdrawal limits

[aardvark15]

The same is true when selling. Once you have Bitcoins back on Coinbase, you sell and Coinbase will move USD back to your bank account. One less step for buying and selling than you are showing.

The selling part is what I'm concerned about since isn't there a potential lag between having my Bitcoin on Bittrex and its finding its way over to Coinbase? 

With that in mind, I just checked out cex.io as recommended by john2231.  Assuming I do a bank transfer (free), wouldn't this exchange make more sense than the process I described?  I'm now wondering if Coinbase/GDAX are *really* meant for folks who are just interested in BTC, ETH, LTC while other exchanges are geared towards people who want to dive into different alt coins...

I've never used cex.io so I can't give any advice on that.

Cashing out at Coinbase: If you have altcoins on Bittrex, you would need to convert them to Bitcoins first, then send them to Coinbase, then sell for USD and Coinbase will put it in your bank account.

You do have to jump through a few hoops for these transactions. I keep some funds in Bitcoins or altcoins so I don't need to do these conversions. I did at first to originally buy the Bitcoins and did a couple of sells.

[NiftyX]

That's basically the process I'm using, but I buy Bitcoin straight from Coinbase.

[24Kt]

people that sell ... sell for profit of sale! when you exchange they exchange for profit from the exchange so yes they all charge and you lose money each and every step of the way!