Overview of IOTA
IOTA has rapidly became one of the top cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap. It has soared to become the #4 largest as of 12/10/2017
The price has soared versus Bitcoin and the USD in November and December of 2017. It started November around $0.35 and 0.00004800 Bitcoin and has climbed to $4.25 and 0.00027000 as of December 10th, 2017.
Download the IOTA Wallet by visiting https://iota.org/ and scrolling all the way down to the bottom of the page and clicking the Getting Started tab at the bottom. When first opening the application, the default host might not be accessible. Click the "No Connection" button to open the settings window and choose a new host. Click "Save" and it should start normally.
You will then need to generate a seed which is made of any random sequence of 81 uppercase letters and the number 9. You can use the number 9 as many times as you would like. Another option is to use a website like: https://iotaseed.io/ Make sure you save this key or you will lose all of your IOTA.
Once your wallet is installed, you will need to set up an account at an exchange that sells IOTA. Currently, you can buy them at Bitfinex, Binance, CoinOne, OKex, Exrates and CoinFalcon. You can see an updated list of supported exchanges by visiting: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/iota/#markets Once you sign up for an exchange, you will need some base currency such as Bitcoin or USD to purchase the IOTA. After purchasing the IOTA from the exchange, you will need to withdraw it to a IOTA address. Do not send IOTA to your seed that you generated!
Go to the IOTA Light Wallet that you just downloaded and click the "RECEIVE" tab:
Click the address displayed to copy it and paste it to the online exchange where your IOTA is being held:
It is not necessary to attach to Tangle.
You can find more detailed information at the IOTA website: https://iota.org/