Happy Trees

I've enjoyed learning from fellow Steemians for the past few months as a guest and have now moved on to being a member. I hope to post an ongoing series of lessons I've learned from investing in other arenas for years and from blockchain investments in particular. Since I didn't tag my first post as "introduceyourself" I am copying it here:

This is my first post. Or as one might say in a call-in radio show, "I'm a first time caller, long time listener." Great content here but one thing I would love to have seen as a noob is an honest assessment of what works and doesn't work when investing in crypto. This isn't investment advice and there are certainly many ways to skin a cat but I will try to share what I've learned and hope others comment about their own experiences.

Mistake #1: Investing through Coinbase. There's no doubt Coinbase remains one of the easiest way to go from fiat to crypto. But even if you bring your cash into the world of crypto through Coinbase, there's no reason to pay their fees. I made that mistake at the outset but now use Gdax (Coinbase's sister entity that is an exchange rather than a buy/sell platform. I fund through Coinbase and then purchase select coins (usually BTC) through Gdax. Same end result but much lower fees. I can then transfer my BTC to an broader exchange (I like Bittrex but there are other solid options out there) when I have an appetite for altcoins.

I would love to hear if others have a different or better way of going from fiat to BTC or back.

More to come.

-- Big App