Purchasing digital currencies such as altcoins can be quite complex and daunting. There are a number of exchanges for you to pick from and we have prepared a Bittrex trading tutorial for you to get started. Bittrex is the largest exchange for cryptocurrencies, with more than 1 billion USD in trading volume every day. This guide will cover the basics that are required to connect to Bittrex and start trading. Similar functionalities exist in most of the other big exchanges, which makes the trading methods similar.

Bittrex Trading Tutorial

1. Buy Ethereum / Bitcoin

Purchase Ether (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) from a crypto exchange accepting your local currency. These two currencies are the biggest coins representing the base crypto currencies. In order to purchase most of the more than 1,300 altcoins that are present you will require Ether or BTC as you cannot generally use your local currency to purchase altcoins. Coinbase is a famous exchange that beginners in the crypto world find convenient to use. However, the fees are comparatively higher. You may also try Local Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer marketplace.

Keep in mind that more transactions can be simultaneously processed by Ethereum compared to Bitcoin. Naturally, one can expect quicker a transfer and confirmations. On average, you will generally need to wait for a few minutes to see ETH transfers, BTC transfers, on the other hand, can take a few hours. The fees for transfers with ETH are also less compared to BTC.

2. Set up a Bittrex Account

Register your email and name to set up a Bittrex account. Have the 2-factor authentication activated, to make your account more secure against hacks. You will also need to offer official documents on identification and your personal details to get your account verified. When you verify yourself, you can raise your limit of withdrawal to 100 BTC from 0.4 BTC. This will save you plenty of hassles for withdrawals in the coming days.

3. Deposit Base Currency

Now, deposit ETH/BTC that you have purchased on Coinbase or your exchange of choice to the Bittrex account that you have opened. You will have to use the base currency for purchasing the altcoins. If you already know which altcoins you will be investing in, check for the base currency required before you purchase ETH or BTC. If for example you are interested in acquiring STEEM coins, then you should begin by transferring BTC to your Bittrex account as this is the base coin required to exchange for STEEM.

4. Select Your Market for Base Currency

Bittrex has 3 markets – USDT Markets, Ethereum Markets and Bitcoin Market. All the markets are symbolized by common base currencies that are used for purchasing various altcoins to be found. In case you deposited BTC as the base currency, move to the Bitcoin Market and choose an altcoin you wish to purchase with Bitcoin. On the other hand, in case you have deposited ETH, visit the Ethereum Market and choose the altcoins that you like.

The Bitcoin market in Bittrex will show you all the coins you can exchange Bitcoin for. The same is true for the USDT and Ethereum markets respectively.

After you have selected the market, find your coin of interest and enter its page.

5. Setting Purchase Orders

Enter your purchase order details, under the trading area, in the “Buy” box. Suppose that you are using ETH for purchasing Monero (XMR).

Tip: You can purchase less than a single coin given that cryptocoins are extremely divisible. You can purchase or sell any quantity that you like, based on the type of budget you have. You can purchase as little as 0.000001 Bitcoin.

1. Units – This refers to the amount or quantity of coins that you wish to purchase. In this example, you would purchase 2.50 Monero.
2. Bid – This is the cost that you wish to pay for every Monero unit. Let’s assume the cost is 0.42100972 for 1 Monero.
3. Type – This is the type of order that comprises of “Conditional” Order or “Limit” (default order). The optimum price that you are willing to purchase, as mentioned in the ‘Bid’ section, is set by the “Limit” order. This ensures that for every unit of Monero you will pay 0.42100972 ETH and nothing more. Note: There is more complication with “Conditional” orders, given that these orders are added to the public order book after the costs reach the preset “Conditional” prices. Start by trying “Limit” orders only if you are not sure about your trading activities.
4. Total – This is the entire quantity of base currency, ETH is this instance, which you will give up for the entire quantity of altcoins that    you wish to purchase. It is alternatively the entire price of purchasing Monero with ETH, which is your base currency.

If you set your bid first, then the Units will determine the total or vice versa.

Recommendation: You can use Conditional order once you do not wish to have your orders appear on the Order book that lists every sell and purchase order that is active. The orders will become public only once the costs reach the conditional price that is set. This is similar to a ‘Ninja order’ that is generally used by investors who are purchasing numerous coins and never wish to let others know that a large order is being placed – so that the price is not influenced in any way.

6. Defining Sell Orders

Type purchase order details, under the trading area, in the “Buy” box. Suppose that you are drawing payment in BTC for selling ANT (Aragon).

1. Units – It is the amount or quantity of coins you wish to sell for BTC, which is the base currency. Taking this instance, 500 coins is the amount of ANT (Aragon) that you wish to sell.
2. Ask – The cost that you wish to sell for every unit of ANT, as mentioned in BTC. Imitating this instance, 0.00018449 is the cost that you wish to sell a single ANT unit for, stated in BTC.
3. Type – The type of order that is comprised of “Conditional” order or “Limit” order (also known as Default order). The minimum price that you want to sell, as mentioned in the “Bid”, is set by the “Limit” order. This ensures that for every unit of Aragon you will get at least 0.00018449 BTC. Note: There is further complexity with “Conditional” orders, given that it is added only to the public order book after the prices attain the “Conditional” prices that are defined and set by you. Try only “Limit” orders if you are not sure about your trading activities.
4. Total – The entire quantity of base currency, BTC in this instance, which you will get for the entire amount of bitcoins you wish to sell.    It is alternatively the entire price you will draw by selling ANT, as stated in BTC.

Tip: The cost of the coin that you wish to sell or buy at Ask/Bid is designated in a base currency that can be ETH, BTC or USD. The USD denominations are convenient as you can get the numerical price of the market, such as purchasing Ripple at a cost of 0.30 USD. However, ETH/BTC denominations could be tricky in the beginning given that you are purchasing the Ripple ratio compared to ETH/BTC. For example, the Ripple cost can be 0.000024 when compared to BTC/XRP pair (BTC).

7. Storing Every Coin in a Wallet

Having personal wallets is the safest way to store your coins. You will have a wallet automatically when you set up a wallet hosted on an exchange, or an exchange account. However, you will not have any control over the public and private keys. You will have control over the coins when you have control over the keys.

Exchanges act like banks. These are 3^rd party service providers that are relied on to ensure the safety of coins. But there are always risks of your coins being lost due to a likelihood of the exchange being hacked or shutting down – as with the Mount Gox exchange.

As the industry is still in an infant stage and there are insufficient regulations about cryptocurrencies and exchanges, it is best to have complete control of your coins. Having a wallet of your own is the only way to have full control.

Further Info:

There are 3 kinds of Bids under the “Bid” price:

1. Ask price – The lowest price that a seller wants to sell a coin for, regarded as the first order under “Ask” in the section “Order Book”.
2. Last price – It is the last price for the last trade that was conducted.
3. Bid price – It is the highest cost that a buyer wants to pay for the crypto coin, regarded as the first order under “Bids” in the “Order Book” section.

In case you wish to create orders of your own orders by entering the “Bid” amount, this is inapplicable in your situation. The three types of “Bid” prices mentioned above are meant for people who are disinclined to manually type in their numbers and prefer to simply choose the closest rate from the “Order Book” section.

If you wish to trade on the Bittrex exchange, the above guide will be very useful for you.