Buy Bitcoin in under 10 minutes incl. instructions, Bitcoin calculator & tips

Bitcoin (BTC) is the most important & best-known cryptocurrency of all. Many investors agree that Bitcoin now belongs in every portfolio.

But how can you actually buy Bitcoin? In our guide, we show how you can buy Bitcoin from a secure provider with different payment methods such as PayPal, bank transfer or credit card.

We also show what the difference is between Bitcoin CFDs and real Bitcoins - and which of the two variants is better suited for buying and trading.

How can I buy Bitcoin: Long-term (buying) or short-term (trading)

Buy Bitcoin

Buy Bitcoin and other cryptos to hold for the long term. The goal is the prospect of a price increase.

Bitcoin Trading

If you are looking for quick and short-term profits, then Bitcoin trading is probably the way to go.

Direct comparison: The best providers to buy Bitcoin

Unsure whether an exchange or broker is right for you? With our tool you can directly compare all exchanges and brokers:

Trade real cryptos and crypto CFDs
Licensed broker with deposit protection
Integrated wallet

Broker fully regulated
Numerous awards
Libertex experience for more than twenty years

Many tradable assets
Excellent trading platform
European license

User-friendly platform
0% commissions
Deposit from 20€

Deposit management in Stablecoin USDT offers protection against volatile price movements
Lower trading fees than most crypto exchanges
AI-based trading signals

Many tradable assets
No minimum deposit
Very good customer service

Huge selection of coins
Fair fees
Solid support

Large selection of coins
Established exchange
One of the first on the market

Many cryptos to choose from
High security
Integrated trading tools

120+ coins
High security level
Good app

With a market capitalisation of over 250 billion euros, Bitcoin also clearly stands out from all other cryptocurrencies (Ethereum - 23 billion, Ripple - 8 billion). Thus, there is more money in Bitcoin than the whole of Austria generates in one year (2019).

The price developments of the cryptocurrency are also unique. For example, the Bitcoin had a price increase of 1062% in 2017! This means that if you bought a Bitcoin for €930 on 01.01.2017, you could sell it for €11,237 on 01.01.2018. For a short time, there was even an increase to 16,892€. Even in 2020, the price was able to climb from €6,414 to €9,157 on 1 January to 1 June. Buying Bitcoin thus offers enormous potential for anyone willing to take risks.

Bitcoin Exchanges: Best Option to Buy Bitcoin

Etoro Logo Transparent

Number of coins

14+

Minimum deposit

250 USD

Trading fees

Spreads from 0.45%

Deposit

SEPA, PayPal, Credit Card, Skrill, Neteller, SOFORT, Krypto

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation

CySec, FCA, ASFL

Number of users

over 12,000,000

67% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs from this provider.

Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection.

coinbase

Number of coins

5

Minimum deposit

no

Trading fees

from 1.49%

Deposit

SEPA, credit card, crypto

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation


Number of users

over 5,000,000

Your capital is at risk.

binance

Number of coins

150+

Minimum deposit

no

Trading fees

from 0.1%

Deposit

only crypto

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation


Number of users

over 6,000,000

Your capital is at risk.

Bitcoin Broker: Best option to trade Bitcoin

Plus 500

Number of coins

12th

Minimum deposit

100 USD

Trading fees

Variable spreads

Deposit

SEPA, PayPal, Credit Card, Skrill

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation

CySec, FCA, ASFL, FSCA

Number of users

over 500,000

Your capital is at risk.

Etoro Logo Transparent

Number of coins

14+

Minimum deposit

250 USD

Trading fees

Spreads from 0.45%

Deposit

SEPA, PayPal, Credit Card, Skrill, Neteller, SOFORT, Krypto

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation

CySec, FCA, ASFL

Number of users

over 12,000,000

67% of retail investor accounts lose money trading CFDs from this provider.

Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection.

capital.com

Number of coins

11

Minimum deposit

20 USD

Trading fees

from 0.3%

Deposit

SEPA, credit card, Skrill, Neteller, GiroPay, SOFORT

Mobile app


Own wallet


regulation

FCA, CySec, National Bank of Belarus

Number of users

over 800,000

Your capital is at risk.

IQ option

Number of coins

20th

Minimum deposit

10 USD

Trading fees

variable from 2%

Deposit

SEPA, PayPal, Credit Card, Skrill, Neteller, SOFORT, Crypto

Mobile app

SEPA, Credit Card, PayPal, SOFORT, Skrill, Neteller, GiroPay

Own wallet


regulation

FCA, CySec

Number of users

over 2,000,000

Your capital is at risk.

Differences between Bitcoin CFD brokers and Bitcoin exchanges

Bitcoin CFD Broker

Pros

  •    Government regulation & deposit protection
  •     No Bitcoin Wallet necessary
  •     Trading with leverage possible
  •     Several deposit and withdrawal options
  •     Mobile trading: Apps for Android & iOs available
  •     Demo account

Cons

  •    Only possession of a certificate, not possession of Bitcoin
  •     Obligation to make additional payments could exist
  •     Risky investment

Brokers offer so-called contracts of difference (CFDs). CFDs are highly speculative derivatives that are only suitable for well-informed investors.

How it works: With a CFD broker you do not receive real bitcoins, you receive a certificate (CFD) from the CFD broker. Buyer and provider agree to exchange an underlying asset (here bitcoin). If the buyer purchases a "long" CFD, he receives a Bitcoin CFD at that time, the provider receives a security in money. At the end of the term (or selling time) of the Bitcoin CFD, the buyer "sells" the CFD back to the provider. The purchase price is now deducted from the selling price. The buyer makes a profit if the price has risen in the time period. If the buyer purchases a "short" CFD, he makes a profit if the CFD price falls between the time of purchase and the time of sale.

Obligation to make additional margin: Although the BaFin excluded the obligation to make additional margin for private customers in 2017, additional margin obligations may exist with individual providers. Therefore, check whether the CFD broker has such an obligation to be on the safe side.

Bitcoin Exchanges

Pros

  •    Actual possession of Bitcoin
  •     Learning to use cryptocurrencies
  •     Many cryptocurrencies on offer
  •     (Partial) Trading with leverage possible
  •     (Partial) Mobile trading: Apps for Android & iOS
  •     Total loss limited to purchase (no margin call)

Cons

  •    No regulation & deposit protection
  •     Attractive target for hacker attacks
  •     Risky investment

Bitcoin exchanges offer the purchase of Bitcoin, the underlying asset. Here you receive real Bitcoins, but you are also responsible for their security. A secure Bitcoin wallet is mandatory! Bitcoins should never be stored on an exchange, these are attractive targets and in 2018 alone, 800 million US dollars were stolen from Bitcoin exchanges.

Storing on an exchange alone can lead to a total loss. With Bitcoin, there is a saying: not your wallet, not your Bitcoins. Find out about Bitcoin wallets and choose a secure wallet.

Risk: Cryptocurrencies are high-risk and speculative assets, the price could drop to zero at any time. In the past, the Bitcoin price already fell six times by more than 40 percent, which could happen again at any time. A total loss is always possible with cryptocurrencies, the loss is (in contrast to Bitcoin CFDs) limited to your stake - of course only if you trade real Bitcoins and not derivatives.

There is no obligation to make additional margin.

Buy Bitcoin

Buy Bitcoin: Comparison of fees between brokers and exchanges

If you want to buy Bitcoin and are still unsure about the choice between broker and exchange, a look at the fees will probably help. Of course, every provider takes different types and levels of fees. Basically, however, it can be said that brokers or exchanges each work according to the same principle, so the fees at the exchanges or brokers are always similar.

Types of fees that occur frequently - and that you should pay attention to as a buyer - are:

    Deposit fees
    Purchase fees (often also called spreads)
    Holding fees (only with some brokers if the positions remain open overnight)
    Selling fees
    Withdrawal fees

We would like to illustrate the whole thing with an example. We buy bitcoin for 500€, hold them for 30 days, sell them again and have the money paid out to our account. For our example, we assume that the price does not change in the 30 days. We use coinbase as an example for an exchange and eToro as an example for a broker.

providers

coinbase (exchange)

eToro (broker)

Deposit

3.99% (= 19.95 €)

free

Purchase fees

0.5% (= 5.00 €)

0.75% (= € 7.50)

Holding fees

free

free

Sales charges

0.5% (= 5.00 €)

0.75% (= € 7.50)

Withdrawal Fees

free

€ 4.23

total cost

€ 29.95

€ 19.23

Link to the provider

to coinbase

to eToro

Fees when buying Bitcoin with different payment methods

method

Minimum deposit

Duration of the transaction

fees

Payment method offered

SEPA transfer

0 - 200 €

3 - 5 days

0 - 1.49%

eToro, coinbase, Plus500, capital.com, IQ Option

PayPal

€ 10 - € 200

right away

0 €

eToro, Plus500, IQ Option

Credit card

0 - 200 €

right away

0 - 3.99%

eToro, coinbase, Plus500, capital.com, IQ Option

Instant bank transfer

€ 10 - € 200

right away

0 €

eToro, capital.com, IQ Option

SKRILL

€ 10 - € 200

right away

0 €

eToro, Plus500, capital.com, IQ Option

Neteller

€ 10 - € 200

right away

0 €

eToro, capital.com, IQ Option

GiroPay

€ 10 - € 200

1 day

0 €

capital.com, IQ Option

Cryptocurrencies

0 €

1-2 hours

approx. € 1.25

eToro, coinbase, binance

Bitcoin CFDs vs. real BTCs

Buy Bitcoin CFD

Pros

  •    Fee advantage when trading
  •     State-regulated and subject to deposit protection: you are protected in the event of a hack
  •     no complicated set-up of a wallet necessary
  •     Protection against hacks
  •     Trading with leverage

Cons

  •    no "real" bitcoins
  •     Fee disadvantage for long-term investors
  •     Risky investment: liability to make margin calls exists with leveraged trading

Buy "real" Bitcoin

Pros

  •    Owning real Bitcoins that you can manage yourself
  •     steep learning curve
  •     those who want to hold Bitcoin for the long term have an
  • advantage here in terms of fees

Cons

  •    Susceptible to hacks and cyberattacks
  •     You are responsible for managing the keys yourself - if the keys are lost, the Bitcoins cannot be recovered.
  •     Paper or hardware wallet are needed for truly secure storage.

Buying Bitcoin - financial investment or speculative object?

With a market capitalisation of over 250 billion euros, Bitcoin also clearly stands out from all other cryptocurrencies (Ethereum - 23 billion, Ripple - 8 billion). Thus, there is more money in Bitcoin than the whole of Austria generates in one year (2019).

The price developments of the cryptocurrency are also unique. For example, the Bitcoin had a price increase of 1062% in 2017! This means that if you bought a Bitcoin for €930 on 01.01.2017, you could sell it for €11,237 on 01.01.2018. For a short time, there was even an increase to 16,892€. Even in 2020, the price was able to climb from €6,414 to €9,157 on 1 January to 1 June. Buying Bitcoin thus offers enormous potential for anyone willing to take risks.

Before you buy Bitcoins, you should be clear about what you want to achieve with your investment. As with any investment, the higher the desired return, the higher the risk. This is due to the following factors:


Supply & Demand: How to Buy and Sell Bitcoin

There are no central authorities (such as governments or banks) behind Bitcoin that determine the currency. This is seen as an advantage by Bitcoin traders, as no authority can manipulate the price. Inflation is also not possible, as the number of Bitcoins is limited to about 21 million.

So there are no mechanisms to influence the price. Only supply and demand determine the price.

Value: Volatility is not always good

Since only supply and demand determine the price, it can also be deduced that there is no material value behind Bitcoin like gold, oil or other "physical" objects.

However, the value of all things is formed in this way. They are only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for them. The intrinsic value of Bitcoin, however, is utility: Transactions are transparent, traceable and irrevocably fixed on the Bitcoin network.

Acceptance: What can I buy with Bitcoin?

The cryptocurrency's biggest problem at the moment is its low acceptance as a means of payment - so far, you can only really buy things with Bitcoin in a few places.

However, if you think about it further, this could also be seen as an opportunity, because as soon as there is greater acceptance among traders, the price could rise significantly.

Reputation: The reputation of Bitcoin

rezor Wallet secure

When paying and trading with Bitcoin, one is completely anonymous.

Among other things, this cryptocurrency is used for shady deals. Bitcoin has gradually become the main means of payment on the so-called darknet, to the detriment of its reputation. However, this argument is relatively absurd, since illegal transactions can also be conducted with cash.

In summary, it can be said that buying Bitcoins always involves a risk. However, those who are aware of these risks can confidently start investing in Bitcoin.

The best time to buy Bitcoin

If you want to buy Bitcoin, you should only do so after some preparation and research. Of course, the question of the best time to buy Bitcoin arises. While it is impossible to predict the correct time, there are some criteria, theories and aspects that help determine a suitable time.

Buy cheap, sell dear - what applies in trading and on the stock market can of course also be applied to buying Bitcoin. Easier said than done, of course.

Bitcoin is more volatile and risky than other investments

Risk and volatility are omnipresent for investors and traders and should be factored into all buying decisions. However, this is even more true for Bitcoin investors than for investors who do not invest in cryptocurrencies.

While price changes of 10% practically never happen with shares or commodities, this may even be the case several times a month with Bitcoin. This is particularly important for choosing the right time to buy Bitcoin because price changes have to be assessed differently. In addition, a higher risk and volatility is simply to be accepted.

In order to maximise the probability of buying Bitcoins at the right time, it is worth taking a look at the important basics of investing. These approaches have been tried and tested on the stock market and can also be applied to bitcoins to a certain extent.

The power of emotions

power of emotions

Whether a newcomer to the crypto market or an already experienced trader - every investor or trader must be aware that buying Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies) is too often influenced by emotions or controlled by them entirely. Two emotional phenomena can lead to buying impulsively and thus rashly at the wrong time: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and panic selling.

FOMO sets in when you look at the trading chart and see a price climbing steeply upwards. The (often erroneous) assumption is that the current upward trend will continue and that it is better to buy now before paying more unnecessarily. So one buys - without thinking - and possibly catches a moment close to the all-time high, from which the price falls steeply downwards again.

Panic selling, on the other hand, is the opposite phenomenon for existing Bitcoin investors. If you look at the trading chart and notice that a crowd of investors is selling Bitcoin, you assume (often wrongly) that the price decline will continue for a long time. In panic, all existing BTCs may then be sold - but in fact (unfortunately we don't know!) it could be a good time to buy Bitcoin!

Is there really a best time?

One thing must be said quite clearly: all the tips presented so far can only help to estimate better times. In any case, there is no "best time" - it also depends on the investment goals and time horizon.

If you follow the current price development, you should enter at the most favourable price - that is the theory. However, you never know for sure how the price will change in the next second. Whether it was the best time is always known only in retrospect and thus much too late for the purchase decision in the present.

Step by step guide to buying Bitcoin: How to buy bitcoins?

Buy Bitcoin: How does it actually work? The trading platform eToro is one of the best trading places for buying Bitcoin and is certainly one of the most popular providers for trading cryptocurrencies. Both real Bitcoins and Bitcoin CFDs can be bought at this state-regulated and licensed one. In addition, eToro offers a useful function with social trading, which makes it possible to follow successful traders and copy their strategies. Here we show how to buy Bitcoin at eToro:

Step 1: Create a trading account

The link below will take you directly to the eToro platform. Then click on "Register now" to enter your personal details in the next window. Use a secure password and finally accept the terms and conditions to create an account with eToro.

Step 2: Deposit money

Immediately after registering, you will be taken to eToro's homepage. From here, select the "Deposit money" option - you can deposit up to €2,000 without verification.

Now all you have to do is select your desired method from the payment methods, e.g. bank transfer, credit card or PayPal, and make the payment afterwards. After that, your money should be available.

Step 3: Buy Bitcoin

After you have successfully deposited money, you can start buying Bitcoin on eToro. Click on "Markets" in the navigation menu and then on "Crypto". Here you will be shown a number of cryptocurrencies and all the necessary details about each currency. To buy the desired Bitcoin, you must click on "Buy" and then on "Open Trade".

Buy Bitcoin with leverage at EtoroA window opens in which you can now enter the amount as well as other values such as stop loss or take profit.

Important: With the "Leverage" setting you control whether you want to buy real Bitcoin or Bitcoin CFDs:

    If the leverage is set to X1, you buy real bitcoins.
    With all other levers, you buy Bitcoin CFDs.

Click on "Open Trade" and you have just bought your first Bitcoin on eToro. We wish you every success with it!

FAQ

What should you look out for when buying Bitcoin?

First of all, you should analyse how you could profit from the performance of Bitcoins. Then you should compare the numerous offers and providers with each other. You should also remember that you need some kind of Bitcoin wallet to own real Bitcoins.

How can I buy Bitcoins without registering?

Basically, you have to register with an exchange or broker to buy Bitcoin, so registration is not out of the question. Alternatives include Bitcoin ATMs and local exchanges, but both involve risks and usually very high fees. The only way to get Bitcoins without registering is to mine them, but this is virtually impossible for private users.

How can you buy Bitcoin anonymously?

The only way to get Bitcoin anonymously is through mining, but this is virtually impossible for private individuals. As a rule, the exchange and purchase of Bitcoins is always anonymous, as the addresses are not publicly assignable. However, you always need a broker to buy coins. This broker can always assign your account to an address. However, brokers naturally do not disclose their account data to the public, so that the allocation is not visible. However, authorities could force brokers or exchanges to hand over contact details. So complete anonymity is not possible.

How can you buy Bitcoin with PayPal?

Most brokers offer Bitcoin as a payment method, for example eToro or Plus500. The deposit can be made directly after registration. After a successful deposit, the goodwill is available for Bitcoin purchase on the platform.

About the author

Hi there, my name is Zalman Weinberg. I'm enthusiast with over 7 years of experience in cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Professional Trader providing Blockchain solutions to Startups and Enterprises. Expert in all cryptocurrency exchange APIs (BitMEX, Bittrex, Binance, Bitfinex, Kraken, Poloniex, Gdax etc.). I have also worked with multiple Forex broker APIs.

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