Thanks!

Yeah, I've been trading off and on since 2013. Coinbase is a good fiat on-ramp, but ultimately you want to keep your cryptocurrency stored in paper wallets or hardware wallets like a Ledger Nano S or Trezor. As for trading, I had some issues with Poloniex a while back, so I'm avoiding them for now. Bittrex is pretty good and if you have Coinbase you can also use GDax (owned by the same company). For SmartCash I've used HitBTC and Cryptopia. I have a lot of exchange accounts. I'd also highly recommend getting into the BitShares world as it's a decentralized exchange meaning you own your own cryptocurrency because you control the private key (no centralized third party you have to trust). Here's my referral link if you want to create an account there: https://wallet.bitshares.org/?r=luke-stokes (scroll down on my latest post on BitShares to see links to all my old BitShares posts with tons of information, including how you can short the USD using bitUSD. Definitely check that stuff out.)

Cryptocurrency trading is a wild and crazy ride. You can learn a lot, but only play with what you're willing to lose. As for learning, I suggest searching for some popular YouTube videos to get started.