Although cryptocurrencies don't have physical properties, they are still financial digital assets that represent a store of value, a utility, and useful as a form of currency. Therefore they can be bought, sold, and traded like other financial assets.
Just like trading equities and securities (stocks and bonds), trading cryptocurrencies comes with risks as well as rewards. Here we will talk about the risks at a basic level. Keeping these at top of mind will provide a foundation for productive trading going into the future. Because these markets are still unregulated (a double-edged sword), more complex subjects like options, futures and margin trading are for a coming discussion.
1: Be constantly aware of security risks.
Cryptocurrencies, by their cryptographic nature, are very secure. But the supporting infrastructure for trading is not. In addition, the currencies themselves are volatile and unstable from a market standpoint. Storing your coins on exchanges is risky because the exchanges actually own your funds, not you. Wallets can add more protection, but they all present opportunities for savvy hackers to mount cyber attacks or intrude into individual accounts.
And beware of fake website URLs. Enabling two-factor authentication (2 FA) can provide an additional level of security on exchanges and wallets. Transactions can be tracked and even hacked while in process, and even hardware wallets have their vulnerabilities.
And always protect your private key; if it is stolen or lost you are just plain out of luck. Your cryptos are completely unrecoverable!
You need to decide on what instrument you would like to trade in order to get exposure to the cryptocurrency market. Would you like to buy the physical coins on the exchange and store them or would you like to take a position on a derivative instrument such as a CFD.
This is also fundamental to risk management as the different cryptocurrencies have varying degrees of risk.
There are a number of well known and established cryptocurrency exchanges. These include the likes of Coinbase, Bitstamp. These will allow you to buy the coins on their exchange and then to store them in your wallet off line.
Other options that are open to you are to make use of Contracts for Difference (CFDs). There are a number of respecatable cryptocurrency CFD brokers. One of the most reputable is IQ option. You can read more about them in this IQ Option CFD Review.
3: Take large long-term positions and hodl.
Currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Dash, and others can be held for long periods of time as the market continues to grow. Even in a bear market, like the current one, there is a large amount of interest by institutional investors, VCs and developers percolating under the surface that is set to drive the market in the future. This is a way to get rich slowly and steadily.
4: Take large long-term positions and hodl.
5: Hedge Positions with Options.
Holding a position in a cryptocurrency without managing your risk can be quite risky. Hence, it makes sense to hedge your risk with the appropriate instruments. One of the most attractive risk management instruments that one can use are options.
These are instruments that will payout only if the price of the cryptocurrency is below or above a certain level. You also have to make sure that you are finding the best binary crypto broker before investing. There are a number of them that can make use of.
There may be a few wizards among us who can do that, and if that is you, you're not reading this. For the rest of us, the best thing we can do is pay attention to charts and patterns, keep up to date with the market on a daily basis, and make your trade when it feels right. Over time you will develop a better sense of this, and you will sometimes fail, sometimes win, and always just keep on keepin' on.
This is one the most effective things you can do to minimize your risk. You want to evaluate the completeness of information on the whitepaper and the currency's website, the reputation and history of the developers, the conversations occurring on Reddit and Twitter, the security of the platform, which exchanges offer the currency.
Also view the quantitative data like the market cap, monthly and yearly returns, trading frequency and levels of volatility. Answering these questions before investing can save you pain and loss by jumping too quickly. A parting comment; governments also pose ongoing risks to the trader, with threats to anonymity as they bring exchanges under their heel, crackdowns on the exchanges like the ones that occurred in China in 2017, increased regulation of ICOs (not necessarily all bad) and the intrusion of taxing authorities.
As the cryptocurrency space expands, all nations will be taking similar actions to either join the party or try to end it. In these uncertain times, make sure you know whom you are partying with and that they want to keep the party going.