Update 26/12/2017: I have posted a detailed guide on how to transfer ETH/BTC from Coinbase into Binance.

Although I live in South Africa, I avoid the local exchanges and trading platforms (such as Luno) as you will not just exposed to the volatility of the Rand against the USD, but local exchanges have an insane margin on most coins.

The “conventional” coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin have reached prices where profit-margins are very small. When the crypto-whales then come in and do a massive dump&pump, Bitcoin can drop from $17,000 to less than $12,000 in less than 24 hours:

On Luno, the same drop reflects a loss of between R 90,000 to R 120,000 (between $7,000 – $9,000 at current exchange rate):

Buying a Bitcoin on Luno will cost you right no R195,000 or $15,488 (at the same time, buying it on Coinbase will only cost $13,600).

In my opinion, you don’t want to trade in BTC and especially not on South African crypto-markets. Where it becomes interesting is when you trade Ripple or other #altcoins on Binance:

Notice on 22nd December 2017 crypto investors engaged in a massive dump&pump (you drop a large quantity of coins in a well orchestrated profit-taking and then re-purchase the coins at the low:

Notice how in the above charts, Ripple (XRP) was dumped from USD1,00 to USD0,45 and then bought up again. Most #cryptonewbies panicked and started to fire-sale as well to minimise “losses”. It is quite a regular occurrence that dump&pump or pump&dump schemes run on exchanges and you want to be there when it happens (sell high, buy low).

The greatest profit margins can then be made with #altcoins: If you bought XVG (Verge) 3 weeks ago at $0.005 with a budget of $500,00 you could have sold 100,000 coins for $14,000 today.

How to trade in altcoins

In the beginning this sounds scary, but it is very easy, and I will show how this works with Binance. As a start you need Ethereum or Bitcoin to trade on Binance. Buy them from Coinbase with your credit card (it works out cheaper than Luno).

Deposit Ethereum / Bitcoin to start trading

Once you have signed up with Binance, go to the deposit/withdrawal page: https://www.binance.com/userCenter/depositWithdraw.html: – find the Ethereum entry and then click on “Deposit” to display the deposit address on Binance. Use this address to send your Ethereum from Coinbase to Binance:

Start trading

Trading is very simple. I prefer the advanced view: https://www.binance.com/tradeDetail.html?symbol=XVG_ETH

Although the screen looks confusing, there are really just 4 sections:

1. The chart area: Look at the trends and indicators over various time-frames. This allows you to establish the price you want to buy / sell at.
2. The “buy/sell” wall: This contains the current buy-/sell orders as well as completed orders. It gives you an indication of where the coin is moving.
3. You order section: This contains via various tabs your open orders as well as history and funds.
4. The buy/sell section: This is where you execute the order to buy or sell

What is a “short” vs “long” and what is a bullish vs bearish market

In almost all cases you will come across the color GREEN (for buying) and RED (for selling). In trading-terms “shortening a trade” also means selling. Likewise, “going long” means to buy.

Many times you will also hear confusing terms such as “bullish” or “bearish”. The easiest explanation to memorise is this:

• Bullish: The market is trending upwards and prices will increase. Think of a bull pushing the price up with his horns and you will never forget this.
• Bearish: The market is trending downwards and prices will decrease. Think of a bear ripping prices down with it’s claws.

When you start trading I suggest to only use Limit– and Market-options. Many exchanges have more complex trading forms (such as stop-limit, margin trades, fill-or-kill etc) and I would avoid those in the beginning as you can really make horrible mistakes when using them wrong.

With a limit-buy/sell you will set a desired buy- or sell-price and specific the quantity. The trading platform will automatically execute the order once that limit is reached. A market-buy/sell will execute the order at the current market price. Use limit-trading to schedule buy-/sell-options and practise with those. Also take into consideration that most exchanges take a trading fee – so consider this when selling at a low margin.

When trading on Binance you will be able to get exposure to many #altcoins which are not traded elsewhere and could make a few thousand dollars in a short period of time if you are patient and do not panic.

DISCLAIMER: This is not investment advise. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions.

If you found this guide helpful and once you made some money, feel free to tip me

(Ripple) rPz4YgyxPpk7xqQQ9P7CqNFvK17nhBdfoy
(BTC)    1Mhq9SY6DzPhs7PNDx7idXFDWsGtyn7GWM
(ETH)    0xb0f2d091dcdd036cd26017bb0fbd6c1488fc8d04
(LTC)    LTfP7yJSpGFvuPqjSEKaqcjue6KSA9118y
(XVG)    D5nBpFBaD6vmVJ5CBUhkz8E4SNWscf6pMu
(BNB)    0xb0f2d091dcdd036cd26017bb0fbd6c1488fc8d04