No matter what crypto exchange market, they all have similar features. Some are geared more towards professional cryptocurrency traders and investment brokers, and others have a simple user interface suitable for the average Joe who’s ready to start investing. Still, even if you’re using an app with a simple interface, knowing where to look and why isn’t always obvious, especially if you haven’t dabbled in the crypto world before.

Below, we’ll look at some of the most common features you’ll find on any crypto exchange and how to find coins to invest in.

Crypto Exchanges and Wallets

The first two terms you’re going to want to get yourself familiar with are crypto exchanges. Crypto exchanges are the place where you can buy, sell, and exchange cryptocurrencies. They’re an excellent starting point if you want to learn how to trade crypto because it gets you familiar with exchange terms, how many coins and tokens each exchange has, and the fluctuations between prices. Most exchanges show this simply by using the colors green and red. Red means it’s on a downhill trend, green means uphill – or bullish, as it’s known in the crypto world. 

We’ll go into trading trends and how to  decipher what they mean further along.

Wallets are an app that allows you to store and retrieve digital assets. Crypto exchanges are great for watching the progress of your investments, but wallets are the safe and secure location where you should hold your investment’s long-term. Most exchanges are compatible with Metamask and Coinbase wallets – they’re two of the most popular wallets.

Depositing and Withdrawing

Once you have your chosen exchange and you’ve activated your wallet, you’re going to want to deposit some fiat currency. The great thing about crypto exchanges is you can switch the currency you wish to trade at the click of a button. Find the deposit button on your chosen market and pick the best option for you. Most markets will ask whether you want to connect a card or the entire bank account. 

Connecting your bank account means you’ll need to log in to your internet banking and add the exchange account as a payment contact. Connecting just a bank card will only facilitate smaller transactions. It works the opposite way of withdrawals. As soon as you want to withdraw fiat currency, click the withdraw button, and it’ll deposit either into your crypto wallet or straight into your bank account. Most deposits and withdrawals are nearly instant. Waiting times depend on how busy the network is and how long it takes to verify the deposit or withdrawal. Some exchanges also have a limit on the number of deposits and withdrawals you can do in a day.

Buy and Sell

Once you’ve deposited some money into your wallet or directly to the exchange market, you’re going to want to buy some crypto coins or tokens. That’s where things get tricky. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, and it’s hard to judge when the rise and fall of the value of a coin will occur. Experts can gauge when a rise or small might happen by looking at the various markers on the candlesticks – the candlesticks form part of a graph that plots the progress of crypto coins and tokens. 

Candlesticks might be too confusing for the crypto novice, so it’s instead better to explore the up-and-coming coins and look at long-term investments. There are plenty of articles online – many of them suggest XRP and XLM to be the next best investment. Or, you could explore the various coins and tokens available on an exchange market and see the future price predictions. Again, it’s hard to predict the future; that’s why it’s crucial to do plenty of research and come to your own conclusions. 

Trade and Convert

The temptation to trade and convert coins against each other in the beginning will be strong, and while most coins suit the buy-and-hold strategy, trading coins against each other depends on what’s bullish on that day is a great way to gain confidence in trading in general. It’ll help you understand the various coins on the market and why they might be trending. 

Most exchanges make it easy to trade coins against each other. You’ll notice that some coins can only exchange against specific coins or tokens, but most you can trade against anything. There’s also the option to convert crypto. For example, if you’re starting to explore NFTs, you might need to convert Ethereum to wrapped Ethereum – you can do this through crypto-wallets. 

Click on the trade and convert buttons to start exploring what coins and tokens trade against each other, and what’s on the market for you to buy into. 

Sending and Receiving 

Most crypto wallets have the option to send and receive. Sometimes you might want to send your assets to another wallet or to another individual. The step-by-step instructions make it easy to do, but there’s often a fee that means you need to have slightly more of the crypto to make a purchase. For example, if you want to send $20 of ETH somewhere, you’ll need $20+ to cover the transaction fees. To send crypto, you’ll use the unique wallet code as the address for delivery.

Receiving follows the same principles. If someone wants to send you some crypto or an asset, they’ll need your wallet code. You can find this by clicking on receive on your wallet. The only thing to be mindful of is ensuring you have the right code for your wallet, and that you’re giving your wallet code out to trusted websites or individuals. Crypto wallets are designed to be safe and secure, but like with centralized bank accounts, hacking is a problem in the crypto world.

That’s the short and sweet guide to crypto exchanges and wallets. Crypto exchange apps often have a step-by-step introduction guide that makes it easy to get set up. Do you still feel lost? Find the exchange that you think suits your needs the most and go on YouTube to find a tutorial. 

Also Read: How can bitcoin’s cryptographic technology play a role in saving the environment?