Day/swing trading....

[whofarted75]

So I've been investing in cryptocurrencies for a few months now and want to do a little bit of swing/day trading. I'm only thinking about doing it with $1,000 for some fun "on the side" cash, not to get rich.

Got a couple of questions for you guys:

1.) Where would you do day/swing trading? A regular exchange likely has too high of fees. IE: Coinbase.

2.) How do you keep track of all of your trades for tax purposes?
Most of my purchasing that I do now is from Swan Bitcoin and a little bit from Coinbase. Both of these offer the ability to download files in CSV form with all of your trades on it. Recently I looked at strike app for buying Bitcoin. I emailed/asked them if that ability at this time, they said no. Which makes me wonder how do you keep track of your Bitcoin purchases and sales with strike app. I have heard that, companies that you have to register KYC with, do send you tax information just like your work does with a W-2 form. Does anybody know if that's the case? Obviously when I pick an exchange I will look into this further with that exchange. I'm just kind of wondering off the top of my head how people who trade regularly, that have hundreds of transactions a year, keep track of all that.

3.) When you're trading on these lower fee type trade platforms, can you custody your own Bitcoin if you decide to hold them or is that the reason that the fees are cheaper because it's not the same style thing you're basically just owning the number you never get to actually custody the coin?

-TIA for any advice/info

[whofarted75]

If it's your first time trading and you don't have any prior knowledge about trading then probably you shouldn't start trading right now, you need to gather knowledge first...

Well that's what I'm doing here is starting the process of gathering knowledge.

and gain some experience by doing some practice trades that don't have any risk involved since there's no money involved.

I know how to program in PHP mySQL and I create in an app where I can track trades. I've been using charts from binance and simulating buying and selling several trades but I don't know what the fees are or what kind of fees to expect on that kind of a system so I'm only guessing, but I currently I'm showing profits of approximately $6,000 (acting as though I started with $1,000) so I'm actually getting ahead with my "fake money" that's why I would like to start small and maybe do a few trades and see how it goes.

So essentially that's what I'm doing here I'm trying to get people's thoughts and opinions so I can go out investigate them and find out what works best for me.

[Tytanowy Janusz]

1.) Where would you do day/swing trading? A regular exchange likely has too high of fees. IE: Coinbase.

Use binance. Super low fees (0.075% if you use BNB to reduce it), the best liquidity (means the lowest spreads, and low probability of flash crashes).

Both of these offer the ability to download files in CSV

Binance allow that too. In fact i havent seen crypto exchange that don't have it. You should also check how tax from crypto is calculated in your country. In my, they don't care about crypto/crypto trades. They tax me only on crypto/fiat trades so I trade with USDT or BUSD trading pairs and sell to USD only when I want to cash out profits.

[whofarted75]

Use binance. Super low fees (0.075% if you use BNB to reduce it), the best liquidity (means the lowest spreads, and low probability of flash crashes).

If I remember right when not using BNB the rate is still extremely low at 0.150%. Can you custody the crypto that you buy in this way on Binance?
Thanks for the info Tytanowy Janusz 👍

Binance allow that too. In fact i havent seen crypto exchange that don't have it.

I was looking into and wondering about using strike app to trades since there are no fees at all and on the lightning network. But they don't have the download CSV file option. For that matter other than looking at your brief history that they have in the app there's really nothing other than yourself keeping track of all your trades.

You should also check how tax from crypto is calculated in your country. In my, they don't care about crypto/crypto trades. They tax me only on crypto/fiat trades so I trade with USDT or BUSD trading pairs and sell to USD only when I want to cash out profits.

Yeah unfortunately, here in America, any exchange (including from one crypto to another) triggers a tax event. Anything under one year is considered short-term gains and taxed like regular income tax. Anything over one year is taxed as long-term gains and capital gains tax in a lower rate. 

[magnum1010]

So I've been investing in cryptocurrencies for a few months now and want to do a little bit of swing/day trading. I'm only thinking about doing it with $1,000 for some fun "on the side" cash, not to get rich.

Got a couple of questions for you guys:

1.) Where would you do day/swing trading? A regular exchange likely has too high of fees. IE: Coinbase.

2.) How do you keep track of all of your trades for tax purposes?

I think that one of the best exchanges for introday trading is binance. Actually, such kind of traders are very beneficial for exchanges, so they encourage those, who trade every day and give them discounts.
What comes to taxes, I haven't ever withdrawn my money from crypto, but as I know, none of my friends has payed taxes as well, only fees of banks and exchanges.

[Tytanowy Janusz]

extremely low at 0.150%. Can you custody the crypto that you buy in this way on Binance?

Its 0.1% and yes, you can withdraw your coins as long as you bought them on spot (not futures or margin).
You can also trade using BUSD trading pairs. That way you can reduce fees to 0 but you have to be a maker. Its not a problem to always be a maker with your PHP skill and trade using API and simple algo.

I was looking into and wondering about using strike app to trades since there are no fees at all and on the lightning network. But they don't have the download CSV file option. For that matter other than looking at your brief history that they have in the app there's really nothing other than yourself keeping track of all your trades.

Fees is not everything. There are also spreads (slippage) that on low liquid trading pairs are far bigger cost than fees. That's why it is important to choose high volume exchanges. Especially if we are talkig about lowering from 0-0.075% to 0.

[whofarted75]

thanks Tytanowy Janusz, good info.

I guess one question I would have is if you can get Bitcoin at such low rates, why pay 1.49% even 0.99% when you can get it for less than .1% on Binance?

I assume it's like Coinbase versus Coinbase pro I have heard that Coinbase pro has lower rates. So the question is if there's no difference why do they charge more for one than the other? I'm kind of confused as to why I've been buying on these exchanges at higher rates.

I've been buying at Swan Bitcoin at 1.49% and then after $5,000 in one year it drops down to 0.99% but even that is high compared to a 0.1% so wtf?

[herurist]

yes as said before that binance is a very good place for you but if you see your thread that says that you will try to start in day trading, I think it will be a little risky considering your amount of money is $1000 of course not the amount of money few and indeed will not be useful for those who already have abundant assets but it will be a different story for small traders.
I suggest you to look for more detailed information about this daily trading because of course something like this especially regarding money matters cannot be taken lightly.
than you lose $ 1000 by trying things that are not necessarily better you learn it earlier before you try in trading.

[ReiMomo]

yes as said before that binance is a very good place for you but if you see your thread that says that you will try to start in day trading, I think it will be a little risky considering your amount of money is $1000 of course not the amount of money few and indeed will not be useful for those who already have abundant assets but it will be a different story for small traders.
I suggest you to look for more detailed information about this daily trading because of course something like this especially regarding money matters cannot be taken lightly.
than you lose $ 1000 by trying things that are not necessarily better you learn it earlier before you try in trading.

To be frank, I have not even thought of how much the fees are charged for each trades I make since 2017. But I am sure I have chosen the right exchanges who charge little for trades. I started my trading in Binance exchange. They offered fees reduction when we provide fees in BNB. Then I opened up accounts on many other exchanges. So paying fees in their tokens/coins, will reduce more fees I am sure. 

And I store all the coins where ever I trade irrespective what exchange it is. I always activate the security locks so that they are not hacked or mis-used.

[Theones]

If it's your first time trading and you don't have any prior knowledge about trading then probably you shouldn't start trading right now, you need to gather knowledge first and gain some experience by doing some practice trades that don't have any risk involved since there's no money involved.

Yes thats very much correct. It has been advised so many times here to new people that never invest straight away. Be patient and gather some knowledge before you can invest. Bitcointalk.org has great resources that can help you in understanding crypto trading. You can also post your queries here for instant replies by senior members. 
Between OP seems to be a rich guy since he is doing fun on 1000$. Good luck.

[teosanru]

So I've been investing in cryptocurrencies for a few months now and want to do a little bit of swing/day trading. I'm only thinking about doing it with $1,000 for some fun "on the side" cash, not to get rich.

Got a couple of questions for you guys:

1.) Where would you do day/swing trading? A regular exchange likely has too high of fees. IE: Coinbase.

On a quick exchange with huge volume and minimal fees, something like Binance or FTX is the most optimal exchanges for this purpose, generally you won't mind a lot of volume on other exchanges and lesser volumes means that high slippages which can be quite high of a cost.

2.) How do you keep track of all of your trades for tax purposes?
Most of my purchasing that I do now is from Swan Bitcoin and a little bit from Coinbase. Both of these offer the ability to download files in CSV form with all of your trades on it. Recently I looked at strike app for buying Bitcoin. I emailed/asked them if that ability at this time, they said no. Which makes me wonder how do you keep track of your Bitcoin purchases and sales with strike app. I have heard that, companies that you have to register KYC with, do send you tax information just like your work does with a W-2 form. Does anybody know if that's the case? Obviously when I pick an exchange I will look into this further with that exchange. I'm just kind of wondering off the top of my head how people who trade regularly, that have hundreds of transactions a year, keep track of all that.

In my country tax regarding cryptos is still not quite set, therefore I am showing it as a business Income which generally most of the stocks and futures traders also do. I think if some law comes in the future it's still going to be around this existing treatment because when you buy and sell something for trading, it's generally a business activity and doesn't attract capital gains tax.

3.) When you're trading on these lower fee type trade platforms, can you custody your own Bitcoin if you decide to hold them or is that the reason that the fees are cheaper because it's not the same style thing you're basically just owning the number you never get to actually custody the coin?

-TIA for any advice/info

DyDx is an exchange that is decentralized and is trying to bring in the technology where you can be the custodian of your coin and at the same time enjoy low fees and speedy transactions. So far, Centralized exchanges obviously don't give you the private key but the Withdrawals aren't really too difficult these days.

[otundebis]

So I've been investing in cryptocurrencies for a few months now and want to do a little bit of swing/day trading. I'm only thinking about doing it with $1,000 for some fun "on the side" cash, not to get rich.

Got a couple of questions for you guys:

1.) Where would you do day/swing trading? A regular exchange likely has too high of fees. IE: Coinbase.

2.) How do you keep track of all of your trades for tax purposes?
Most of my purchasing that I do now is from Swan Bitcoin and a little bit from Coinbase. Both of these offer the ability to download files in CSV form with all of your trades on it. Recently I looked at strike app for buying Bitcoin. I emailed/asked them if that ability at this time, they said no. Which makes me wonder how do you keep track of your Bitcoin purchases and sales with strike app. I have heard that, companies that you have to register KYC with, do send you tax information just like your work does with a W-2 form. Does anybody know if that's the case? Obviously when I pick an exchange I will look into this further with that exchange. I'm just kind of wondering off the top of my head how people who trade regularly, that have hundreds of transactions a year, keep track of all that.

3.) When you're trading on these lower fee type trade platforms, can you custody your own Bitcoin if you decide to hold them or is that the reason that the fees are cheaper because it's not the same style thing you're basically just owning the number you never get to actually custody the coin?

-TIA for any advice/info

To answer your number question,  coinbase should be good for you,  the fee are low and the fact that coinbase is legit and it has a good reputation
For the number two question,  you may have to manual record your gains and losses with the capital you started trading with. There should be record of your trading with exchange like coinbase,  and you can use such record to support your data
The last question, Yes you could have custody of your asset if the exchange used support it.  I know you can trade from your wallet with coinbase exchange. 

[MrcMrc]

Isn’t it better you start your trading on an exchange that has real trading volume other than going after low fees exchange but with loads of fake trading volume? I will advise you to take your time to build your trading skills before venturing into trading.

[Ararbermas]

Must try binance mate, infact you can use other assets if you really want a small fees when it comes withdrawal.. Because for me in my personal opinion on day trading through binance it is very reliable because of the real volume of each of every coin and it's very informative wherein available also in trading view, so why not choosing binance since this is the most popular exchange nowadays very secured as well?.

[whofarted75]

Thanks for the info guys, really helpful.

Let me clarify what I mean by high fees.

On Coinbase, if you buy $100.00 worth of Bitcoin, the fee would be $2.99

On Binance, if you buy $100.00 worth of Bitcoin, the fee would be $0.10

That would add up fast! That's what i'm talking about. 

[nelson4lov]

Thanks for the info guys, really helpful.

Let me clarify what I mean by high fees.

On Coinbase, if you buy $100.00 worth of Bitcoin, the fee would be $2.99

On Binance, if you buy $100.00 worth of Bitcoin, the fee would be $0.10

That would add up fast! That's what i'm talking about. 

For a swing trader that does only few amount of trades weekly/monthly, I'd say the fees won't add up much maybe only in the long run. You can check Binance US  if you're not allowed to trade on binance that i. These exchange fees shouldn't be a cause of alarm for someone that trades longer term and not a day reader. If you can't register on Binance, your best option would be to utilize decentralized exchanges.

[GreatArkansas]

Answer for number 1, and number 2;
First, you need to identify which country you are from, check if there are any regulations about cryptocurrency in your country, like trading the cryptocurrency or owning it. And before signing up for an exchange, make sure to read their Terms and Conditions (TOS) because there you can find if you are qualified to have an account there.

[michellee]

1. You should search for the other exchanges and do not just use Coinbase so you can compare how good the services are for each exchange.
2. You can download your trade history in CSV as you did in Coinbase and I guess every exchange has that feature so you can download it anytime.
3. You can hold your bitcoin in that exchange, but you can also send your profit in bitcoin to other wallets that only you can control.

The fee will always have a gap and I do not think much about that because if I can make a profit of more than $5 in every trade (which I am sure that you can do that easily), you will not think about the fee. But if you want to send your bitcoin to another wallet, you can send it in more than $100 in bitcoin so you will not think much about the fee. After all, when you send bitcoin to other wallets, that means that is your profit.

[whofarted75]

Update:
I woke up this morning and had a premonition I logged on to Coinbase and check the rate to convert from Bitcoin to tether or USDC. It turns out there is no fee, like when you buy Bitcoin from Fiat. This was my confusion. I thought every time you went from Bitcoin to any other money (be it fiat or crypto) you had to pay the fee of what would end up being something like $10 per $1,000. I didn't know, and now I understand better what stable coins are for. You trade from Bitcoin, when you think it's going to go down, to a stable coin and then back to Bitcoin from tether or whatever stable coin when you think it's going to go up. And you don't have to pay the fees because you're not buying in from Fiat.

This was part of my confusion and I was wondering how people could say that's not expensive. I feel kind of dumb but now I realize I was wrong. At this point I had only been buying crypto I hadn't actually sold any yet or tried converting to any other type of crypto from one to another. So it didn't dawn on me that the fee wasn't included every time you did a transaction. This makes much more sense. 

[trickys]

Nowadays, you can trade crypto with pretty much any CFD broker. Have you tried?
OK.. they might not offer many cryptocurrencies but still a decent start.