A NOOB INVESTING IN CRYPTOCURRENCY - 2

Since my first post https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@zeteticmindset/my-first-taste-of-cryptocurrency-as-a-noob-in-investing , here's an update of what I've been up to. I am brand new to the cryptocurrency world and investing in general.

After 5 days, I am still awaiting for my information to be processed to be able to utilize Kraken. I also haven't received any reply to my inquiry with a question I had. I heard this was common from various sources on YouTube and articles online, but how knows. My own experience reflects this sentiment, however. My main reason delving into Kraken was the ability to buy different altcoins with the fiat dollar. The limits on Coinbase are a bit annoying. The good part of that is it gives me time to do more research and probably prevents me from making brash and uninformed moves. In the first week, after giving Coinbase information that included photos of my driver's license, my limit is $500/week for debit/credit purchases (though the cryptocurrency is usable immediately) and $5000/week for a linked bank account.

To link my bank account for purchases, I had to input two transaction amounts from Coinbase. This took 3 days. After my account got unlocked, I made a Bitcoin purchase... only to find out that they wouldn't be available for 5 days! This is the main reason I started to look into Kraken... so I could make more purchases while waiting for my Bitcoin to clear on Coinbase. To increase my debit/credit limit from $500/week on Coinbase, I have to wait 60 days! To increase my bank account limit of $5000/week, I have to wait 30 days. The amount you can use after you spend the maximum seems to be on a timer and slowly refills with time. So I can go to sleep at around $300 to use and it will be close to $500 when I wake up. If I use everything, I will be able to use like $20 a couple of hours later.

I decided to move my coins out of Coinbase. The first thing I did was send my Bitcoin to Poloniex as they do not take fiat currency. Since I was limited and had maxed out what I could buy through Coinbase, I wanted to use my Bitcoin to trade for other altcoins I was interested in. Then I downloaded and opened up Exodus after hearing good things about them.

Regarding Exodus, I realized that they only accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Augur, Dash, Golem and Dogecoin. I had initially opened them up thinking I could send all my altcoins there. Since I liked the interface and trusted their services enough, I sent my Ethereum and Litecoin there from Coinbase for a small fee. The interface for Exodus is quite nice and clear to read. There are not too many options outside of changing skins and choosing what coins show on the main page. The amount of each altcoin is only displayed in fiat dollars. I wish there was a way to display the amount and not just the USD value. The process to receive the altcoins was easy and quick. It only took a minute to have the funds in Exodus from Poloniex.

The Bitcoins I sent from Coinbase to Poloniex was also quite easy. This is the video I used:

I think the transfer took 30 min to an hour, so it wasn't too bad. As soon as I had the Bitcoin in, I purchased some Digibyte (DGB) after doing good research on the coin and the company. An interesting thing I realized about Digibyte is that there are very few options for wallets to hold this coin. I was under the impression that there would be a plethora of options to hold various popular coins, but I was wrong. I also thought that the Ledger Nano S that I ordered a few days ago would also be able to hold a large array of altcoins. I was wrong again! So I downloaded the official Digibyte wallet (which took 3-4 hours to download, then another few hours to catch up). I think the whole chain gets downloaded. After that long process, I sent my Digibyte from Poloniex to my desktop Digibyte wallet for a small fee, which only took a couple of minutes to show up. I read that Digibyte will start to be accepted by Jaxx, a popular mobile wallet. I'll be looking into Jaxx soon.

As I was looking at the trading on Poloniex, I saw something called Lisk (LSK) doing well. I did some quick research on them then traded for a small amount of that. The quick research I did (https://www.coingecko.com/buzz/lisk-ecosystem-and-currency) on this impulse buy convinced me enough in the company to make a small trade. As I wanted a place I could put all my altcoins (and thinking Exodus or the Ledger Nano S were solutions for this), I was surprised again to find that there were very few options to hold my Lisk coins! So I downloaded the official Lisk wallet and sent my Lisk coins there. The Lisk Nano wallet for your desktop is very sparse and, basically, you can send and receive. The interface has your address and your balance without any other options (which is only displayed in the coin amount, not the fiat dollar worth). I wish you could see how much the Lisk is worth in a fiat currency. The wallet is definitely sparse.

I'll have to look into other solutions to get my altcoins into a safe and long-term storage. As I'm waiting on my Kraken account to get verified and I have to wait 5 days for my Coinbase purchase I made with my bank account, I'll have to do more reconnaissance and research. Then more research. I could buy more on Coinbase with my debit/credit amount filling back up, but that 3.99% fee adds up (though the instant access is golden)! In comparison, paying with your bank account takes 5 days but the fee is 1.49%.

Well, that's it for now. This has been a fascinating journey so far. As always, all comments, criticisms, advice, etc. are all greatly appreciated. Hopefully this will be helpful for anybody that's new to investing and also looking into how to get started in cryptocurrencies.