In the early years of Bitcoin (BTC), somehow you had to figure out how Bitcoin and blockchains work and how to set up your hardware wallet and private keys before you could buy some BTC.

Today you can still learn that technical know-how. However, it makes more sense now to just sign up to a crypto trading platform and buy some Bitcoin. It’s especially the case if you view Bitcoin mainly as a way to invest (less emphasis on seeing Bitcoin as a revolutionary way to disrupt finance).

Whether you want to “set it and forget it” (highly recommended) or monitor Bitcoin’s price all day, you can to Canada through a popular and trusted crypto trading platform. Once you start for real, you can then know if crypto investing is right for you and what strategy works best for your goals and investment capital.

How crypto platforms make crypto investing easier

When you use a crypto platform instead of a hardware wallet, you actually save some time because you don’t have to figure out the technical details of blockchains and choose among several brands of hardware wallets available.

In a crypto platform you just have to do the following:

Sign up and create an account
Verify your account and identity
Fund your account (you can use Interac e-Transfer)
Buy some Bitcoin

It’s like signing up for a new email and opening a new bank account. It’s an easy and straightforward way to start in crypto investing and immediately see if it suits you.

How Bitcoin trading platforms work

Crypto platforms act as a middleman. They facilitate the buy and sell transactions and often earn money from those transactions through a small percentage (in contrast, Coinberry has zero CAD deposit and withdrawal fees).

Behind the scenes, they take care of the technical details so that investors can just tap a button and carry out their transactions. It’s a practical way to help investors just start and better focus on analyzing and balancing their investments. It’s a lot similar to stock trading apps where you can buy or sell stocks.

Do you really need a hardware wallet?

On the other hand, you can also put your crypto assets in a hardware wallet (instead of in a crypto trading platform). Let’s talk about the pros and cons of having a hardware wallet to store your crypto.

Pros of hardware wallets

Can’t be hacked through the internet (hardware wallets are offline)
You don’t have to count on others to ensure your assets’ security (“your keys = your coins”)
Ever-expanding functionality and privacy (technology behind hardware wallets are rapidly evolving)

Cons of hardware wallets

Expensive
Can be destroyed physically
You might lose the wallet (hardware wallets are like small USB drives)
You might forget your seed phrase to access your assets (or someone might see or steal your seed phrase)
Requiring some knowledge about digital security

If you’re planning to store more than $10,000 worth of crypto assets, you might want to use a hardware wallet to store your cryptocurrencies (for your peace of mind or you don’t want a third party to handle your assets). But if you’re just starting out, signing up to a crypto platform is enough for now.

Will Bitcoin crash again?

Bitcoin’s value dropped by 50 to 70% last June compared to its high price just last year. Because of this recent crash (price is still under recovery as of this writing), many investors have lost their confidence in Bitcoin and the entire crypto market.

About there future of Bitcoin, here are the possibilities:

Bitcoin’s price will crash again
Bitcoin’s price will fall further
It will slowly recover in the coming months
It will reach a new all-time high
Bitcoin’s price will still rise, but not exceed previous 2020 and 2021 highs

It’s also possible that Bitcoin and the entire crypto market will disappear (which is why it’s important to stay updated about what happens to crypto). On the other hand, it’s also possible that Bitcoin will reach true widespread adoption (although technology still limits what Bitcoin can do).

In other words, Bitcoin’s future is highly uncertain. Also, the crypto market is still rapidly evolving. Once it matures, cryptos’ prices might somehow become stable and predictable. But for now, cryptos’ prices are still highly volatile. We can’t rely on historical data because the field is still young.

It’s also possible that Bitcoin’s price will stay highly volatile and unpredictable for the coming years. After all, small events can suddenly and drastically affect its price. It’s still too early to tell if the crypto market ever reaches maturity.

Should you buy Bitcoin now?

Wait or buy now? Here are the scenarios to think of:

When price is high

Sell and take your profits
Hold and wait for price to go even higher

When price is low

Sell and stop your losses
Buy more Bitcoin

If you’re just starting out, you can still buy anytime and start with a small amount (50 CAD). You can put more money anytime as you get more comfortable with crypto investing.

You can also practice consistent investing where you use a small amount to buy more Bitcoin each month. Here, you avoid or somehow minimize the effects of wild swings of Bitcoin’s prices. Here’s a potential scenario (month and Bitcoin price):

Month 1: 28K
Month 2: 32K
Month 3: 26K
Month 4: 18K

Given that price fluctuation, monthly you’ll get some Bitcoin at varying prices. In some months you’ll get to buy more Bitcoin (and in some, you get less). In the long term or perhaps after a few years, you might still get some nice profits if Bitcoin’s price still increased overall.

This is still uncertain though because Bitcoin might still crash again or never recover (especially if we think about the long term). When we look at it daily, naturally we’ll still see some significant movements (price fluctuations of 1 to 10% in a day is common). If you want to take advantage of those rapid fluctuations, you might have to stay tuned to what’s happening in crypto or set up triggers that automatically let you take advantage of those small and rapid changes.