Cryptoplanetry

Whether you already own bitcoin or plan to get some, sooner or later you’ll want to know how much the cryptocoins are worth when  converted to your currency of choice. Later, you may want to know whether to hang onto your coins or to sell them – hopefully making a little profit in the process. However, analyzing price charts and understanding trading terms from the financial world can be rather daunting, especially for the beginner. This guide serves as a useful primer of the basics. What is bitcoin’s current price? The best place to find out the latest price of bitcoin (currency symbol: BTC or XBT) is the exchange you bought them from (Bitstamp, Bitfinex and BTC-e being the most popular exchanges at the moment), or Coindesk’s own Bitcoin Price Index. Knowing bitcoin’s current price is one thing, but pretty soon you’ll want to know where prices will go in the future. Methods for predicting price trends Forecasting price movements of anything traded at an exchange is a risky probab...

  An exchange that dates back to the colorful  early days of cryptocurrency, U.S.-based Poloniex has had a long journey to its current version. Acquired in a $400 million deal by Goldman Sachs-backed   Circle   in Feb. 2018, it does not allow users to trade government currencies for cryptocurrency. But while less appealing for beginners today, early on it was the main differentiator for the exchange. Not only was Poloniex one of the first to offer crypto-to-crypto trading, it made a business out of quickly adding any and all cryptocurrencies for more seasoned traders. During that time it also established a reputation as an honest business, but ended up losting 12 percent of its bitcoins in a 2014 hack, only to repay customers in full later that year.  Today, Poloniex is part of a broader plan by Circle to enter the more regulated cryptocurrency exchange market that also includes Gemini, Coinbase and itBit. How does it stack up on usability? Let’s dive ...

  Kraken is one of the world’s oldest and best-known cryptocurrency exchanges and has built upon its reputation for both security and as a leader in bitcoin to euro trading volume. Founded by Jesse Powell in July 2011, the exchange offers 47 market pairs with seven base currencies ranging from the US dollar to the British Pound. Kraken is also one of the few cryptocurrency exchanges to offer both margin lending with up to 5x leverage on trades and futures trading to US-based customer. At this time,  international users  can partake in margin lending but do not have the ability to participate in the futures market. Now, let’s dive into how you can facilitate a trade on Kraken in a step-by-step process. Signing up On the  Kraken  landing page, in the top right corner, you will find the “create account” link tab which will request some general information including your email address and a desired password. Enter your details and await the confirmation link to be s...