user67436: I am new to this crypto currency thing and am soooo confused but learn more and more everyday! What I am trying to figure out now is:

I own a fraction of a Bitcoin on Coinbase. I look at coin base as my “ETrade”. I can just buy and sell there, is there a better place and if so why is the other place better?
Recently, in November, Bitcoin had a fork. I was under the impression during a fork it is just like a “split”. I thought I would get equal “shares” of Bitcoin under a different symbol and/or Blockchain. I do not see where I received anything. Why?
Should I hold my coins elsewhere to take advantage of forks? If so, where? 

Thank you so much for trying to clear up my spinning head!

user62246: If you had your coins in coinbase, you won't be credited as coinbase owns your private keys. To get your hard fork credits, you needed to have your funds in a external wallet with access to your private keys. After a fork happens, you can download a wallet that supports the new coin and import your private keys into it.

67436: <p>I am new to this crypto currency thing and am soooo confused but learn more and more everyday! What I am trying to figure out now is:</p>

<ol>
<li>I own a fraction of a Bitcoin on Coinbase. I look at coin base as my “ETrade”. I can just buy and sell there, is there a better place and if so why is the other place better?</li>
<li>Recently, in November, Bitcoin had a fork. I was under the impression during a fork it is just like a “split”. I thought I would get equal “shares” of Bitcoin under a different symbol and/or Blockchain. I do not see where I received anything. Why?</li>
<li>Should I hold my coins elsewhere to take advantage of forks? If so, where? </li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you so much for trying to clear up my spinning head!</p>
 62246: <p>If you had your coins in coinbase, you won't be credited as coinbase owns your private keys. To get your hard fork credits, you needed to have your funds in a external wallet with access to your private keys. After a fork happens, you can download a wallet that supports the new coin and import your private keys into it.</p>
