Advice needed on which exchange to use to buy Bitcoin

[Amgo_gnome]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

[masulum]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

Welcome to crypto world, if you want to know where you can trade Crypto, you can start to check it here https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/ there is lot of exchange service you can join. Where the best? is a relative many people say Binance, another one Bittrex, and another people have their perspective about best exchange. so you can start to research by your self to find the best exchange as you wish.

[Polar91]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

Which country you came from? Each country has their own available local exchange. For example in my country, Philippines; Coinbase isn't available here that allows us to buy Bitcoin via fiat currency. On the other hand, we have coins.ph, Abra, and etc. in which we can be used as Bitcoin wallet and fiat wallet at the same time. Choosing which local exchanger doesn't matter much since the price gap between them isn't that much.

[mk4]

tldr; Completely depends on your country and which exchanges allows buying and selling from people in your country. If Coinbase supports your country though, it's probably one of the best choices right now. Just make sure to withdraw your funds from Coinbase to your hardware wallet the moment you gain access to the bitcoins.

[QueenVera]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

For a beginner it is always a good choice to prefer localbitcoins for buying bitcoin. It gives you different modes of payment access, and can buy from the trader who is over your region or the one with whom you find comfortable. When days pass slowly you can find yourself good with different exchanges in buying and selling of bitcoin.

I won't recommend this to any newbie, Localbitcoin has so many scam accusation that I won't want a newbie to start his/her cryptocurrency experience, by first encountering scam. This exchange is a peer2peer exchange that means most of these scam reported cases, the exchange has little or no control over it. Although the community discourage use of centralized exchange, as a newbie it's ok to first rely on them for a safe and quick transaction although don't store your coins on the exchange as any bitcoin you don't have control over the private key that isn't your bitcoin.

Now when you have gotten some experience and have time to research, I recommend you do some research on Non-custodial exchanges like ShapeShift that support hardware wallet and use those for future buying and selling as they're more safer than centralized exchange.

[Kakmakr]

I am very glad to see that some "newbies" are buying hardware wallets and external storage to store their bitcoins, because most of my friends bought their first coins and it is still on the exchange where they originally bought it. This is one of the most common mistakes that people make, because exchanges are only supposed to be used to buy and sell bitcoins and not to store bitcoins. 

I see a lot of people giving advice that you should use a local exchange, but I would suggest that you contact other Bitcoin people in your area to determine if these services are legit and if they are reliable, before you use them. There are some scam sites out there, that would surely like you to deposit some fiat into their Bank account and you will never see those bitcoins again. <Check out the local boards on this forum, if you looking for a reputable exchange in your country.>

[bitmover]

<Check out the local boards on this forum, if you looking for a reputable exchange in your country.>

This is the best for you.

Just go to your local and create a topic there asking for the best exchanges.
Depending on your country, there may be a lot of scam exchanges. Exchanges are the biggest threat to newbies when buying Bitcoin, because there are so many shady ones.

Ask your local companions which is the most reliable and buy some bitcoins there. Immediately send them to your hardwallet

[buwaytress]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

For a beginner it is always a good choice to prefer localbitcoins for buying bitcoin. It gives you different modes of payment access, and can buy from the trader who is over your region or the one with whom you find comfortable. When days pass slowly you can find yourself good with different exchanges in buying and selling of bitcoin.

I generally also advice this. I know it can be easier to go to an exchange and buy with a credit card. You might be better off doing it that way if you want something fuss free, but I'd really suggest you go find someone else to buy Bitcoin from on LocalBitcoins (usually referred to as LBC).

My first Bitcoins traded was on that and I still use it until today. Most good traders will even help you out, and it's a good experience IMO.

Just remember, as soon as you buy it, put your hardware wallet to good use and withdraw the coins you bought to your wallet immediately.

(You really ought to have learnt it a bit better first though but I guess diving right in is one way of learning fast!).

[The Sceptical Chymist]

most of my friends bought their first coins and it is still on the exchange where they originally bought it.

Though I know that's an extremely risky thing to do, it's understandable.  When people buy stocks, they usually keep them with the brokerage from which they bought them--they don't ask for a stock certificate to be printed out in order to keep the stock at home.  People generally feel safe having someone else watch over their investments, but that's the exact opposite of what a bitcoin investor should do.  I also think it's smart OP is using a hardware wallet and hopefully any other newbies reading this thread will consider doing likewise and NOT keep their bitcoin (or any other crypto) on an exchange.

As everyone has said, the choice of an exchange depends on what country OP is in.  I've never used LBC, so I can't comment on them.  I have found that Coinbase is a reliable exchange for fiat purchases.  Poloniex now accepts bank wire transfers, and I'd probably trust them as well though I've never bought bitcoin from them using cash. 

There's also the currency exchange section here.  I've been able to buy bitcoin using PayPal, but that's probably not an option for a newbie.  However, there are other methods of payment some sellers might accept.  As long as the payment method isn't reversible and an escrow is used, there shouldn't be any problems.

[figmentofmyass]

tldr; Completely depends on your country and which exchanges allows buying and selling from people in your country. If Coinbase supports your country though, it's probably one of the best choices right now. Just make sure to withdraw your funds from Coinbase to your hardware wallet the moment you gain access to the bitcoins.

one thing to add here. the best way to use coinbase is to deposit fiat, transfer to coinbase pro, and take advantage of their maker/taker fee structure. maker fees start at 0.15% (used to be 0% until a few months ago) which is one of the best around, better than kraken, bitstamp, or gemini.

coinbase's normal service is much more expensive. with all the fees combined, we're talking at least 2-4%.
https://support.coinbase.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2109597-coinbase-pricing-fees-disclosures

[TIDOVEE]

there are few exchanges sites that one can use for trading, but what individual prefer is different, We have localbitcoin, coinbase,coinmarket cap. all this sites are good, their exchange fee may be different. whichever one you may decide to use should be checked, some still function bebber. depending on your location. scams use some sites to dupe some people, one has to be very careful

[examplens]

Here is a nice thread: Crypto exchanges comparison [trade fee + listing fee + age + mobile app + more!]
there you can find more info about exchanges fees, withdrawal min/max, is it KYC needed. These are important things.
already in previous comments, people warning you to potential fraud and large numbers of new untrusted exchanges, so always research here first about any exchange and find user experience from there.

[countryfree]

Avoid Poloniex and Coinbase.
If you're in Europe, I recommend bitcoin.de or Kraken.

[Amgo_gnome]

Just want to thank everyone for all the advice that's been posted in answer to my query. Sorry I haven't replied earlier; it's my first post on here and I thought I would get notifications to my email of replies sent but it seems that you don't get notifications. So when I returned to the forum and saw all the replies I was really surprised. There are obviously different opinions on exchanges but all the replies have helped and have pointed me in various directions to do more research myself. Thanks again guys.

[enhu]

Avoid Poloniex and Coinbase.
If you're in Europe, I recommend bitcoin.de or Kraken.

Polo use to be the most popular for the traders, they slow down since 2016. I find it hard to use though for every time I shift to my laptop to my desktop, I have to again authenticate my login and  doing it means sending email to polo. I didn't know they now  accept bank wire transfers, must be time to go there again. I'm sure it doesn't matter wherever we are if we use creditcards.

[TheUltraElite]

Just want to thank everyone for all the advice that's been posted in answer to my query. Sorry I haven't replied earlier; it's my first post on here and I thought I would get notifications to my email of replies sent but it seems that you don't get notifications.

This might help : Go to "profile">Notifications and Email(in the left sidebar) > Check the boxes that you need.

So you bought a hardware wallet but you didnt buy your first bitcoin yet? Thats new to me because most of the people first end up getting some bitcoin from some source or other and then look out for secure ways of keeping those coins, majority are people who are putting their money in the future value of bitcoin and altcoins.

You might want to check out the local rules and regulation about crypto first before you start buying anything. In many countries bitcoin is not clearly legal, although they cannot do anything about it.
Next thing would be to find an exchange that accepts your local currency. If you are going to trade p2p make sure to use a trusted escrow. Always be safe and never send first to anybody asking you to do so unless you trust them completely. Remember that once you have send someone some coins they are irreversibly transferred.

[Amgo_gnome]

Just want to thank everyone for all the advice that's been posted in answer to my query. Sorry I haven't replied earlier; it's my first post on here and I thought I would get notifications to my email of replies sent but it seems that you don't get notifications.

This might help : Go to "profile">Notifications and Email(in the left sidebar) > Check the boxes that you need.

So you bought a hardware wallet but you didnt buy your first bitcoin yet? Thats new to me because most of the people first end up getting some bitcoin from some source or other and then look out for secure ways of keeping those coins, majority are people who are putting their money in the future value of bitcoin and altcoins.

You might want to check out the local rules and regulation about crypto first before you start buying anything. In many countries bitcoin is not clearly legal, although they cannot do anything about it.
Next thing would be to find an exchange that accepts your local currency. If you are going to trade p2p make sure to use a trusted escrow. Always be safe and never send first to anybody asking you to do so unless you trust them completely. Remember that once you have send someone some coins they are irreversibly transferred.

Thanks for the very useful advice.

[shushu9977]

Although I've read a bit about Bitcoin and bought a hardware wallet, I'm a complete newbie and I was wondering if anyone could advise on which exchange is best for buying Bitcoin.

My favourite is kucoin exchange, besides Bitforex, Binance, Bibox, Huobi, Hitbtc, Hotbit, Bit-z, Decoin etc, all of them trusted exchange, you can also check here top exchanges:  https://coinmarketcap.com/rankings/exchanges/.