Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have grown exponentially in the total value and the size of the market globally over the past 10 years since their creation and mysterious launch and the progressive increase in the interest in using digital currencies for payments and for generating income for millions of people around the world.
For many of the earliest years of the life of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin was the only significant digital currency that was available, however once there were easy and cheaper ways to create cryptocurrencies and to integrate them into different platforms and tools, the number of cryptocurrencies skyrocketed and grew to more than 9000 different cryptos in existence today.
While on the surface level, what Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are is fairly easy to explain, there is also a lot in the background that is important to understand about the way digital currencies work and why people have used them in so many diverse different ways over the years.
In this guide we are taking a deeper look at exactly what Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are, starting with a look at what Bitcoin is and what cryptocurrencies are, then moving on to look at some simple ways to make money with cryptocurrencies, before looking at some of the best Bitcoin and crypto trading platforms on the market, and then finishing off with a number of the most popular Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading strategies.
Bitcoin 101
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital and decentralized currency and is known as the first and highest-valued crypto in the market with a global market cap that for the first time this year surpassed a trillion dollars though given the growing institutional/trader support surrounding the coin and technology it is no surprise to most.
Cryptocurrency is a term known to modern-day culture and even pre-millennial generations that have never purchased or owned crypto as these decentralized assets of value are now globally used by tens of millions of consumers that exchange them for products and services or by traders/investors for profits.
Conceptualized in 2008 and released in 2009, Bitcoin has now existed for over ten years and since not only became the most valued of its kind and benchmark for gauging market health but also an asset known to retail investors and banking institutions as a viable investment not influenced by inflation.
Bitcoin is easiest to understand by considering it as paper currency but in digital form and not in control by institutions or federal-governing bodies, it was invented to detach the reliance that people long had on central banking systems and at the time was a new way for people to freely move wealth to others.
When Was Bitcoin Created?
Bitcoin and its purpose remain all but a mystery though its founder or group of creators continues to be a mystery to this very day, the coin was first announced in 2008 from a forum-profile account that went by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and it was only a few months thereafter it was released in 2009.
Considering that Bitcoin released pre-2010 it is now over ten years old and as the first of its kind to ever be made is now used as the gold-standard mark for measuring the health of crypto markets as a whole and its release to the surprise of many would one day rattle markets unlike any preceding technology.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 soon after the financial crisis of 2008 that wreaked havoc on economies and banks around the world and this is important to consider when discussing the creation of Bitcoin as this is speculated to be the causing situation and tipping point that compelled the creator to develop BTC.
Bitcoin was released in 2009 and it is the belief of most that consumers and traders alike never had control of their wealth and assets until its release as until then people were still relying on banks and centralized trading markets to store or invest wealth which at any time could be frozen or locked by these services.
Why Do People Use Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a true product of the digital age as it is a digital and decentralized currency that people can use to buy products or services without needing to use a bank or conventional service which also means that many of the traditional fees charged by such services are avoided too and is why Bitcoin is so popular.
This crypto is not only more convenient to consumers but to traders and investors as well as their digital existence makes them much easier than physical assets like gold to manage and transact, and given that BTC can be bought and sold in smaller and incremental amounts are useful to consumer purchases too.
Bitcoin is a digital money and asset of value used for its convenience and low fees as well as its ease of accessibility as its decentralized nature means people in all parts of the world can use it which is a great deal considering many countries to this very day remain underdeveloped with no active banking system.
Crypto was intended to be a government-independent currency accessible and usable by all and that is what Bitcoin enables and is why more people use it today than ever before as it not only lets anyone in all parts of the world to receive and send wealth but in ways that are cheaper than traditional banks too.
Cryptocurrency 101
What are Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies are digital coins stored on the blockchain and accessed using crypto wallets to which cryptos can be sent to or from and since the first cryptocurrency to come to existence was made, BTC, over six-thousand new cryptos have been made for various purposes and are now known as altcoins.
Cryptos are a very unique asset class in comparison to other commodities and fiat currencies as they are not backed by physical assets and have no intrinsic value yet are highly versatile in nature as most crypto coins are made and released to serve a specific purpose that goes far beyond just the transfer of value.
Bitcoin was the first crypto to exist and was released over ten years ago in 2009 with one goal and that was to give people a fiat-alternative currency that could be used for transactional/investment purposes without bank or regulated-authority intervention and that it achieved by not all cryptos share that goal.
Revolutionizing the way consumers transact and investors trade was the coin, Bitcoin, that inspired an array of other coins to enter the market known as altcoins and now over six-thousand exist, while BTC was designed for transactions, most altcoins serve a purpose while having advantages unique to them.
How Many Cryptocurrencies are There?
Comprising a list of every cryptocurrency in existence is a near-impossible task given the thousands of them that now exist and despite the growing number of them and their shared decentralized concept are unique to each other in terms of the goals/solutions they provide and trading volumes they have.
Bitcoin released over ten years ago and at the time was the first and only crypto to exist but as of 2021 over six-thousand altcoins, or coins alternative to Bitcoin, are now in the market for trade and they all vary from one to another with trade volumes being the main metric used to assess the health of a coin.
Bitcoin was not only a trend-setting coin but a concept brought to reality that upon arrival ushered in a wave of other cryptos that were built on the decentralized peer-to-peer network and it soon became the de facto standard of cryptos as it inspired an ever-growing legion of spinoffs and followers/interest.
Unofficial estimates claim the total number of cryptocurrencies to be five to six-thousand but is hard to precisely know given the ease at which they can now be made, most altcoins are insignificant and have low trading volumes though some are highly valued, such as Ethereum, which has billions in daily trades.
How are Cryptocurrencies Different to Bitcoin?
Cryptocurrencies revolutionized the way people and investors transact/trade and while cryptos share the decentralized concept they are often unique to each other as those that create them develop them with unique concepts and goals in mind that in most cases differ from purposes and uses of Bitcoin.
Cryptocurrency is the term used to broadly define coins that exist on a decentralized blockchain whose transactions are spread across millions of computers and while the premise and technology of cryptos remain the same they all are often diametrically unique in contrast to Bitcoin, the largest of them all.
These virtual tokens of value are referred to as cryptocurrencies but more specifically can be identified as altcoins when referring to any coin other than Bitcoin, these altcoins, despite being classified as the same asset class of Bitcoin, are different than BTC as Bitcoin was designed only as a way to transact.
Traders and especially those new to the market often ask how are cryptocurrencies different to Bitcoin and while the term altcoins should be used in place instead the answer is simple, cryptos and altcoins are unique to BTC in terms of their uses/proof-of-concept as well as their transactional speeds and fees.
What are Some Simple Ways to Make Money from Cryptocurrencies
Crypto Trading
Crypto trading and investing are often confused to be the same though greatly differ in terms of the involved strategies and mindsets they require those in the market to adopt, no matter the asset being bought or sold, to trade an asset which in this case is crypto means to buy and sell for short-term gains.
Traders account for much of the trade volumes that take place on crypto exchanges as such users are opening and closing positions on a daily basis in hopes of leveraging day-to-day volatility for marginal yet consistent profits, closing and opening a position the same day is not at all uncommon with traders.
Crypto trading is both a strategy and name given to identify the type of investor a trader is and one of the greatest if not the greatest difference between traders and investors is that traders leave liquidity in markets for short periods of time whereas investors are long-sighted earners with long-held positions.
Trading cryptos can be an enjoyable and lucrative pursuit when strategically conducted though is best suited for experienced traders that understand how the market and coin valuations work, although, new traders can perform and profit well with trading too by cautiously trading and studying trends/graphs.
Crypto Investing
Crypto investing is at times confused to be the same as crypto trading though as mentioned above is unique to the methodology and mindsets of those actively open and close positions to reap gains from short-term volatility, instead, crypto investors HODL through dips and do not quickly close positions.
Crypto investors are those that believe a certain coin will rise in value over an extended period of time which may be three to six months or even a couple of years, given their forecast of long-term growth they do not do as most traders would and hold their assets and do not sell when values begin to decline.
Investing requires liquidity that can sit in the market for an extended period of time as this trading style is based on the concept of producing profits over a long duration of time as the asset has time to scale mature, this is beneficial in many ways with one being less stress than what is caused by daily trading.
Investors do not watch markets daily unless they so wish as their long-sighted positions do not require movements in price to be monitored daily, the goal is to HODL (hold) through dips with the belief that valuations will always rebound over time as the technology advances and becomes more widespread.
Crypto Mining
Cryptocurrencies exist on the blockchain which are literal blocks in chain-adjoined format that contain information and data that are securely held together and managed by chains of data and code, this not only serves as the foundation for cryptos ranging from Bitcoin to Ethereum but as a way to earn profits.
Cryptos are decentralized which is important to consider in regards to mining as with no banks involved the transactions and computing power needed to transact cryptos are provided instead by independent miners from around the world, crypto mining is how transfers complete and how the network functions.
Crypto mining is essential to cryptocurrencies and the transactions people make as it is how transactions are processed and secured and it has become a great way for people from all parts of the world to make an income with nothing more than mining hardware or computer of mining-specific crypto hardware.
Generating income online for most in the past was a hard and tedious process and while crypto mining has its hurdles it has become a mainstream way of earning for the millions of people that now mine and process the billions of dollars per day that are made in crypto transactions between the many holders.
What are the Best Bitcoin and Crypto Trading Platforms?
PrimeXBT
PrimeXBT is the world's largest multi-asset margin trading platform and provides unique ways of interacting with the cryptocurrency market in order to be able to dramatically reduce risk while also increasing the number of opportunities for the generation of revenue in global financial markets as well.
PrimeXBT launched in 2018 with a waiting list of more than 150,000 traders and over the course of the last few years the platform has grown exponentially to today managing up to $7 billion of global trade every day.
PrimeXBT lists a wide range of different assets and markets to trade with industry-leading leverage of up to 100X on a wide range of cryptocurrencies that included BTC, ETH, LTC, and EOS, as well as up to 500X on some of the most popular traditional assets in the world like stock indices such as S&P500 and FTSE100, forex pairs such as USD/EUR and AUD/CAD, and commodities such as gold and oil.
PrimeXBT has a well engineered and powerful trading engine that can execute up to 12,000 trades per second with an average trade time of less than 7.02 ms, with this in shoring that not only do users get optimal entry and exit points with minimal slippage, but that in periods of high trade volume that PrimeXBT does not glitch like a number of other platforms in the cryptocurrency space unknown to do.
As well as this, PrimeXBT has built its reputation around being a safe and secure platform in order to interact with global financial markets, with PrimeXBT never being hacked throughout its years of operation and this being largely as a result of the implementation of a number of bank-grade security measures including hardware security modules with rating of FIPS PUB 140-2 Level 3 or higher and cold storage of digital assets with multi-signature technology.
Binance
Crypto is a digital and mainstream asset used by millions of consumers and investors each day and one of the most popular platforms used for the purchase and trading of these assets is the exchange that launched only four years ago but quickly rose to prominence as the largest of all platforms in one year.
Binance is a licensed and registered exchange and despite not supporting users from the United States is the largest crypto-trading platform in many of the hundreds of countries they do support, and with one of the largest selections of coins to choose from is now used by millions of traders each and every day.
Crypto trading platforms come in many shapes and sizes with some offering lower fees and faster sales while others are known for their customer support and security, and if you prioritize and appreciate all of these attributes of an exchange, this platform will surely not fall short in meeting your expectations.
Despite having only four years in the business they are one of the global-leading trading platforms with one of the largest daily trading volumes and with 0.1% trade fees that are reduced even more if using Binance Coin to open/close positions is a great exchange for those wanting to save and preserve gains.
What are Some Advanced Ways to Make Money with Bitcoin and Crypto?
Crypto Referral Programs
Crypto referral programs have become one of the most popular ways for people to earn money from crypto without having to mine transactions and is an especially good way for webmasters of websites within the space to send and convert traffic to exchanges that when invested will earn them commission.
Referral programs have been around since the inception of the internet itself and has been a technique of earning for millions of entrepreneurs and sole proprietors wanting to earn an income from home and since crypto-trading sites now offer referral programs of their own too it is now easier than ever to earn.
Crypto exchanges range in size and trading features so when choosing a referral program to join it is of great importance that the affiliate chooses a site that can cater to the needs of their referrals, platforms such as Binance and Kraken as well as Coinbase are some of the most popular options available today.
Earning with crypto-referral programs is a great option for those that have struggled to earn as crypto is one of the most talked-about topics today and with more people now than ever wanting to get into the space is a great time to begin promoting exchanges as you can earn both crypto and fiat currency too.
Crypto Bounties and Airdrops
Cryptocurrencies have grown in numbers ever since the first of its kind (Bitcoin) released over ten years ago and with more new cryptos coming to market daily now than ever is a great time to begin earning from the space, especially since new coins means more chances to take part in bounty/airdrop offers.
Airdrops and bounties are crypto giveaways where users earn free coins from either of the two though each differ in the way participants earn, these are great ways for new coins to raise awareness and is a marketing strategy that really began to gain traction in the blockchain industry a few years ago in 2017.
Crypto bounties are jobs/tasks as well as campaigns that users complete to earn tokens that are native to the blockchain start-up though requirements are often effortless and seldom require users to code, these tasks are designed to help the project improve its brand recognition as well as audience reach.
Crypto airdrops are easier to earn from as they require less work but pay less and is when a holder of a coin is given more of the token for holding it though at times may need to complete social media tasks, airdrops are more popular now than ever with them and bounties listed on Airdrop Alert/Bounties Alert.
DeFi Yield Farming
DeFi is short for decentralized finance and is a blockchain-based form of finance not relying on central financial intermediaries such as banks or brokers as it instead uses smart contracts on blockchains with the most popular being Ethereum and DeFi yield farming is now a popular way to earn from them.
DeFi yield farming can be broadly defined as the effort of putting crypto assets to work to generate the greatest returns on those assets possible and involves the strategy of speculating price movements and high-low coin valuations though involves other strategies as well such as finding pools with higher APY.
Yield farmers are known to be creative and are great at finding ways to stack yields by earning multiple tokens at the same time, yield farming is a way to use crypto to earn more crypto and involves lending funds to others through the magic of computer programs known as smart contracts to produce crypto.
Investing often requires complex strategies and this is true with yield farmers as they use complicated techniques to achieve gains, most move cryptos on a continual basis between lending marketplaces to maximize returns with many being very secretive about the strategies they use to keep them profiting.
What are Some of the Best Crypto Trading Strategies in 2021?
Crypto Margin Trading
Crypto margin trading is one of the most popular ways to trade and profit from one of the most popular assets of modern-day markets as it allows traders to leverage borrowed funds to open positions that are in amounts greater than what their cash holdings would normally allow on a spot-traded coin.
Margin trading is also known as leverage trading and is the art of profitably leveraging borrowed funds to open positions using funds borrowed from an exchange or broker to increase potential profits though this trading technique can amplify losses so should be done with caution and by experienced investors.
Profiting from margin trading is great for fund-limited users with low liquidity but high hopes that a coin is going to rise in value as compared to a spot-traded coin that only produces gains based on the amount added to the position, margin-traded coins amplify position value and thus the profits they can produce.
Leverage amounts vary from one platform to the next though any leverage amount can bring high gains when winning wagers are made, the reason being, a hundred-dollar investment on a 10:1 leverage will reap the profits of a thousand-dollar position and the greater the leverage amount the higher the gains.
Crypto Algo Trading
Crypto algo trading is the technique of using computers and software-based programs to execute trades in order to eliminate the need of having to do so manually, unlike conventional markets, crypto markets do not have trading hours that close and are open to traders in all parts of the world all times of the day.
Algorithmic crypto trading is a great way to streamline the opening and closing of positions and at prices that are ideal to the user, these algo-based bots allow users to input predefined values and prices that they want to purchase a given asset for and based on that information will execute trades at that price.
Market liquidity is imperative to all traders within the market and improves the health of the economy as a whole as these bots bring huge order volumes to the market and are being used more and more by traders as they can quantify calculations and execute orders at greater speeds and consistency than us.
Automating trades is a great way to reap profits and save time and especially for those with no coding experience as many pre-made software solutions, such as Zenbot and Gekko, allow traders to get right into trading with no coding knowledge though open-source algo bots are the best option for developers.
Crypto Day Trading
Crypto day trading is a form of investing known to most as it has been used for as long as trading itself and it is a great way for those with discipline and market knowledge to earn steady and consistent gains from even small daily movements with most opening and closing positions within the same trading day.
Day trading is ideal for experienced investors that understand market volatility and price trends as these greatly influence day-trader profitability and with crypto markets being the most volatile of any other it is important for those using this strategy to understand crypto-trading fundamentals and principles.
Trading cryptocurrencies can be lucrative and profitable when strategically done as the daily volatility crypto markets have become known for present great opportunities for people to earn profits from the daily swings, and these gains can be made more easily when using software/bots to execute orders.
Crypto day trading can be profitable even when buying/selling coins with little movement so long as entry points make sense and can be a great way for both new and experienced traders to earn daily, crypto is a fast-paced market, and given the daily price swings within, makes this a worthy strategy.
In Summary
The popularity of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency continues to grow as we move into the third major bull run in the cryptocurrency market, and we see a huge influx of new traders and investors that would also like to be able to use cryptocurrencies to generate an income.
There are many different trading strategies that can be used in order to successfully interact with the cryptocurrency market, and some of the best crypto trading strategies that are available in 2021 are crypto margin trading, crypto Algo trading, and crypto day trading.
If you like to learn more about the platforms that we would recommend as some of the best Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading platforms on the market, check out PrimeXBT and Binance.