Getting into the game - Need advice

[MultipleParadox]

Hi all, been reading on this forum and elsewhere for a while, gathering info trying to get up to speed with "everything" bitcoins
I just registered on the forum for this very topic;

So, I'm sure this kind of question is asked all the time, read a few threads actually, but would like a more recent/tailored answer if I may.

First thing first, note that:

• I am in Canada, for what its worth.
• I have no experience per se in economy or trading, and wasn't really interested in this before recently, because of the Bitcoin
• I don't have tons of money but would be able to regularly feed small amounts (read a hundred or two per week or two) as necessary

From what I gathered, there's 3 ways to get around this:

• Mining crypto-currency yourself, and playing the trading game
• Using Cloud Mining services such as Cex.io and trading the GH/s while making some BTC in the meantime
• Litterally buying BTC and sitting on them and/or trading them

My main interest for now is to start with X amount of BTC in my wallet; I'm guessing I should start and buy whatever I can at the best price I can
But then I am thinking of trying to "make" some more, as I am interested in the mechanic around it, but mostly motivated by the potential profit that may come out of it (I am not ready to take high risks, but low/medium would be acceptable)

So I was thinking of buying some BTC, investing them in Cex.io and go from there. But the more I read about it, the less I'm sure.

The idea of building a GPU rig and mining Scrypts and then trading them for BTC seems somehow preferable, but I'm not sure about how long it would take to get profitable, and for how long it would *stay* profitable. Think 3*R9 280x for an initial cost of about 2000$CAD (electricity is about 0.07$ 0.08$/kWh here)

The question is, which of these would be the best way to get into the BTC game, with relatively low-risk while still making some profit at the end. I'm not necessarely looking for quick  cash here, as long as it pays out at some point.

Any suggestions, comments, recommendations you may have are welcome

Thanks

[empoweoqwj]

Just putting another option for you to consider out there, namely:

havelockinvestments.com has a list of bitcoin companies you can trade "virtually". ASICMINER are the biggie there.

If you have no experience in  trading, I would strongly advise against attempting it. If you were a poker noob and went into a poker den and played against seasoned pros would you expect to leave with your trousers up or down?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

[keithers]

Just putting another option for you to consider out there, namely:

havelockinvestments.com has a list of bitcoin companies you can trade "virtually". ASICMINER are the biggie there.

If you have no experience in  trading, I would strongly advise against attempting it. If you were a poker noob and went into a poker den and played against seasoned pros would you expect to leave with your trousers up or down?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

I mainly agree with the above, but on the other hand, the only way to learn is to jump into the fire. I use to play a lot of heads up poker, and the only way I learned and got better was to jump into games that I knew I was -ev playing and that the opponent was much better than me. Yes it was short term losses, but in the long term I made a lot of money by getting better.  You can't learn what you don't try. With that being said, i wouldn't put your whole investment into trading, but its just food for thought.

[mcleo]

Just putting another option for you to consider out there, namely:

havelockinvestments.com has a list of bitcoin companies you can trade "virtually". ASICMINER are the biggie there.

If you have no experience in  trading, I would strongly advise against attempting it. If you were a poker noob and went into a poker den and played against seasoned pros would you expect to leave with your trousers up or down?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

I'm a vet when it comes to securities.
Do not put your money there, if you value your money.

Evidence?
BTCTC & BitFunder.
Enough evidence for me.

[empoweoqwj]

Just putting another option for you to consider out there, namely:

havelockinvestments.com has a list of bitcoin companies you can trade "virtually". ASICMINER are the biggie there.

If you have no experience in  trading, I would strongly advise against attempting it. If you were a poker noob and went into a poker den and played against seasoned pros would you expect to leave with your trousers up or down?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

I'm a vet when it comes to securities.
Do not put your money there, if you value your money.

Evidence?
BTCTC & BitFunder.
Enough evidence for me.

btct.co closed down in an orderly and professional fashion. They didn't rip anyone off.

[empoweoqwj]

Just putting another option for you to consider out there, namely:

havelockinvestments.com has a list of bitcoin companies you can trade "virtually". ASICMINER are the biggie there.

If you have no experience in  trading, I would strongly advise against attempting it. If you were a poker noob and went into a poker den and played against seasoned pros would you expect to leave with your trousers up or down?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

I mainly agree with the above, but on the other hand, the only way to learn is to jump into the fire. I use to play a lot of heads up poker, and the only way I learned and got better was to jump into games that I knew I was -ev playing and that the opponent was much better than me. Yes it was short term losses, but in the long term I made a lot of money by getting better.  You can't learn what you don't try. With that being said, i wouldn't put your whole investment into trading, but its just food for thought.

It takes a long time to "master" trading. Sure, have a "play" with it but write down every trade you make and keep the trades small for the first six months. Keep good records, and only then will you know whether what you have an aptitude for it.

[IncreaseMyT]

just buy BTC make it simple, the cheapest you can get it Always use 2fa and download the blockchain.  Diversify into some of the top alt coins would be my suggestion.  maybe 25-35%.

Hope this helps.

[BTCisthefuture]

I don't like to give too much personal advice about things like this since everyone is different and has different needs and goals and different ways of doing it.

I agree with others though that simply buying bitcoin is a great and EASY way to get your feet wet and have some fun.

It seems like you're already doing a good job at weighing out your options though and trying to see what works best for you, thats very smart. Best of luck to you!

[hilariousandco]

Hi all, been reading on this forum and elsewhere for a while, gathering info trying to get up to speed with "everything" bitcoins

My main interest for now is to start with X amount of BTC in my wallet; I'm guessing I should start and buy whatever I can at the best price I can
But then I am thinking of trying to "make" some more, as I am interested in the mechanic around it, but mostly motivated by the potential profit that may come out of it (I am not ready to take high risks, but low/medium would be acceptable)

You can also earn them online by offering services or selling items in the marketplace here. There are also a few ebay-like crypto markets: https://cryptothrift.com/ & https://www.coingig.com/

[MultipleParadox]

Thank you for all your reply

just buy BTC make it simple, the cheapest you can get it Always use 2fa and download the blockchain.  Diversify into some of the top alt coins would be my suggestion.  maybe 25-35%.

Hope this helps.

Seems like it's the best and more secure way to get started;
I'm not too sure about the how and the why to download the blockchain, could anyone shed some light on this?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

Wouldn't Mining Alt-Coins such as LTC of Dogecoin and the like be easier and be somehow profitable? Or are you referring solely to BTC mining?
Note that as far as I am concerned I'm not thinking of starting to mine BTC at all. If I do ever mine, it would be alt-coins to  sell them for BTC after

That said, you mention "this quarter", and saw a few people on different threads saying things like "if difficulty goes down", etc...
This goes againt my understanding of difficulty, I thought difficulty could only go up? How can it go down at all over time?

Again, million thanks!

[MWNinja]

So I was thinking of buying some BTC, investing them in Cex.io and go from there. But the more I read about it, the less I'm sure.

You will pay them a big premium for the privilege of borrowing their hashes.  There are many much cheaper options for hosted hashing, both my and DZ group buys are a good bet.

[Bobsurplus]

Greetings,

I too am from Canada and I have a few helpful tips.

First, use craigslist or kijiji to buy some bitcoins. (make sure you get a fair deal though)

second, HODL!

third, Repeat.


Stay away from virtex for the next little while, as there customer service sucks, you'll wait for ever to get verified and they charge and arm and a leg for their services.

Good luck.

[empoweoqwj]

Thank you for all your reply

just buy BTC make it simple, the cheapest you can get it Always use 2fa and download the blockchain.  Diversify into some of the top alt coins would be my suggestion.  maybe 25-35%.

Hope this helps.

Seems like it's the best and more secure way to get started;
I'm not too sure about the how and the why to download the blockchain, could anyone shed some light on this?

Mining is also very difficult at the moment, very risky to put money into mining this quarter.

Wouldn't Mining Alt-Coins such as LTC of Dogecoin and the like be easier and be somehow profitable? Or are you referring solely to BTC mining?
Note that as far as I am concerned I'm not thinking of starting to mine BTC at all. If I do ever mine, it would be alt-coins to  sell them for BTC after

That said, you mention "this quarter", and saw a few people on different threads saying things like "if difficulty goes down", etc...
This goes againt my understanding of difficulty, I thought difficulty could only go up? How can it go down at all over time?

Again, million thanks!

If you are just buying bitcoins, use an SPV client like Electrum, Armory or Multibit. They don't download the blockchain. Why download 13Gb of data just to run a wallet?

Difficulty could theoretically go down if less mining equipment is running. Chances of it happening in next 12 months. Probably around 0% for bitcoin at least. Your mileage with altcoins will vary, because some of them won't exist in 12 months time.

[IncreaseMyT]

From the research I have gathered mining alt coins would be profitable, but not as profitable as buying BTC and just holding.  If i were to go back in time to August and mine instead of just buying it would have been less profitable in my scenario.

I personally think downloading the blockchain is important, for both BTC and LTC.  I personally love to speculate and please be aware I could be wrong but I believe both BTC and LTC will go up 5-10 times again this year, with LTC slightly outperforming it in percentage gains.  Historically though it has much broader swings than BTC.

I also think its going to be very important to start getting things like MSC that allow contract and property sales to be handled without a third party.

Im not smart enough to mine efficiently, and a lot of pools get hacked so unless I had a big room full of rigs with free energy, it does not seem the best route for someone with my knowledge base.

Hope this helps

[MultipleParadox]

Again, thanks for all advices, they will definitely help me weight my options efficiently

Stay away from virtex for the next little while, as there customer service sucks, you'll wait for ever to get verified and they charge and arm and a leg for their services.

Funny thing, I registered last friday, submitted my ID pieces for verification on saturday, and got called tuesday for finalization and was verified the minute I hung up the phone

Maybe I was lucky or they increased their support. I asked them a question or two by email and was answered swiftly and professionally.

Any tips on buying from Classifieds such as craiglist, beside buying at a good price that is.
How not to get ripped-off? I usually don't trust these things much, but might consider them if the deals are good

===
Edit:
Also, concerning wallets; I got Electrum on my home PC, but don't really like the fact that I can't access it from elsewhere, so I opened one on blockchain.info as well (with 2fa enabled)

Any reasons I shouldn't trust online wallets (this particular one seems trusted  by a lot but... ?)

[Bobsurplus]

Again, thanks for all advices, they will definitely help me weight my options efficiently

Stay away from virtex for the next little while, as there customer service sucks, you'll wait for ever to get verified and they charge and arm and a leg for their services.

Funny thing, I registered last friday, submitted my ID pieces for verification on saturday, and got called tuesday for finalization and was verified the minute I hung up the phone

Maybe I was lucky or they increased their support. I asked them a question or two by email and was answered swiftly and professionally.

Any tips on buying from Classifieds such as craiglist, beside buying at a good price that is.
How not to get ripped-off? I usually don't trust these things much, but might consider them if the deals are good

===
Edit:
Also, concerning wallets; I got Electrum on my home PC, but don't really like the fact that I can't access it from elsewhere, so I opened one on blockchain.info as well (with 2fa enabled)

Any reasons I shouldn't trust online wallets (this particular one seems trusted  by a lot but... ?)

I'm in shock! I cant believe they got you verified so fast. In that case if you dont mind paying there fees then I would just recommend using them to buy and sell.

[westkybitcoins]

Again, thanks for all advices, they will definitely help me weight my options efficiently

Stay away from virtex for the next little while, as there customer service sucks, you'll wait for ever to get verified and they charge and arm and a leg for their services.

Funny thing, I registered last friday, submitted my ID pieces for verification on saturday, and got called tuesday for finalization and was verified the minute I hung up the phone

Maybe I was lucky or they increased their support. I asked them a question or two by email and was answered swiftly and professionally.

Any tips on buying from Classifieds such as craiglist, beside buying at a good price that is.
How not to get ripped-off? I usually don't trust these things much, but might consider them if the deals are good

===
Edit:
Also, concerning wallets; I got Electrum on my home PC, but don't really like the fact that I can't access it from elsewhere, so I opened one on blockchain.info as well (with 2fa enabled)

This should be stickied somewhere for new users.

For accepting and spending bitcoins away from home, my recommendation is to use Mycelium.

1) Make sure you have an Android smartphone or tablet. If you don't have one, go buy a cheap Android phone for ~$50, and activate your Google account on it (it doesn't need phone service as long as you have wifi access.) Yes, it's worth it if you plan on having more than a meager amount invested in bitcoins.

2) Download the Mycelium bitcoin wallet from the Google Play store.

3) Open up the app. It will immediately create an address for you.

4) Under settings, set a PIN for the app.

5) Click the warning sign to MAKE A BACKUP of your wallet. Always, always do this, no matter what wallet you use. Write down the passcode Mycelium shows you. Have the PDF that's generated be emailed to yourself, and print it out.

6) Verify your backup is correct by scanning it with your phone from within Mycelium. You will need to enter the passcode you wrote down. Once the backup is verified, store the PDF and the passcode somewhere safe.

7) Go out and do your business. Whenever you need to receive or send bitcoins, open the Mycelium app, and click "Send" or "Receive" as appropriate.

No blockchain downloading, the Mycelium servers are fast and have great uptime, and you keep control over your private keys and over your funds. It's a great complement to having a more robust wallet at home.

Any reasons I shouldn't trust online wallets (this particular one seems trusted  by a lot but... ?)

Browser-based wallets managed from a central server have known vulnerabilities. As one example, just search the archives for "StrongCoin" to see what that company was able to do (albeit for allegedly "good reason") to a user's money. Blockchain.info has a similar setup. You could just trust them, since at the very least they don't have direct access to your private keys, but considering the StrongCoin incident, why would you if you don't have to?

If you're using their phone app rather than accessing Blockchain.info through a browser, then the situation changes to some degree. I still recommend Mycelium.

[empoweoqwj]

Hi, welcome to bitcoin. You should download the official Bitcoin-Qt wallet. The blockchain is a large, one-time download. You'll help verify network transactions after catching up. Here are two ideas for your new crypto-currency portfolio:

1. Buy from the top and trade down. Spend your hard-earned money only on bitcoin. Don't buy inexpensive alternatives like litecoin. You can always trade bitcoin for other crypto-currency.

2. Mine from the bottom and trade up. Build a scrypt machine and mine dogecoin, etc. You can easily mine thousands of fad coins. Sell them during the pump, or before the dump.

How is downloading the blockchain a one-time download? It grows every day

[BitcoinBarrel]

Work and invest what you can in BTC

Once you get comfortable with that try to make some small investments, but only if it brings you more BTC.

Try not to worry or rush because then you'll make mistakes. Just wait for the right opportunities while working with what you have.

[Abdussamad]

How is downloading the blockchain a one-time download? It grows every day

When you first use Bitcoin-Qt, it downloads the entire blockchain from past to present. After this, you only need to update the newest blocks. So getting the blockchain on your computer requires one large download. Daily transaction updates are not the whole blockchain.

No they are much worse. They require that you keep the client running all the time on your system. It takes up resources and bandwidth that you could otherwise put to use running more important things. I want to buy and own bitcoins. What I don't want is a resource sucking app running all the time on my PC.