Trading for complete beginners

Trading is buying something, then selling it later. If the price went up while you held it, you make money. If it went down, you lose some.

You buy Bitcoin for         $100
Bitcoin goes up 10%     →   it is now worth $110
You sell                →   you get $110 back
You made                    $10

A coin is digital money that lives on the internet, like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH). Its price changes all the time, every second of every day, because people are always buying and selling it.

• Each coin has a short name, called a symbol: BTC is Bitcoin, ETH is Ethereum.
• Crypto never closes: you can trade at 3 a.m. on a Sunday.
• Prices can move a lot in one day, up or down. That is why practising first helps.

No. You can buy a tiny piece of a coin. You choose how many dollars to spend, and you get that much of the coin.

A small piece goes up and down by the same percentage as a whole coin.

Your money moves by the same percentage as the coin. Here is $100 of a coin:

You only really make or lose the money when you sell. Until then it is "on paper" and can still change.

A fee is a small charge each time you buy or sell. On Tradeground it is 0.1%: 10 cents for every $100.

1. 1You buy $100 of a coin. The fee is $0.10, so $99.90 of coin goes into your wallet.
2. 2The coin goes up 10%: your coin is now worth $109.89.
3. 3You sell. The fee is $0.11, so you get $109.78.
4. 4Your profit is $9.78 instead of $10: the fees cost you 22 cents.

Fees are small, but trading very often adds them up.

Tradeground gives you $10,000 of pretend money to trade with, at real prices. You can win or lose it, but no real money is ever involved.

• Prices are real, so you learn how coins really move.
• Lost too much? Reset your wallet and start again.
• Want a different amount? Pick anything from $1,000 to $1,000,000 when you start over.

1. 1Open Trade in the menu.
2. 2Pick a coin from the Most valuable list, for example Bitcoin (BTC).
3. 3In Practice order, keep Buy selected and type how much to spend, like $100. Or tap 25% to use a quarter of your cash.
4. 4Check the total and the fee shown below it.
5. 5Press Buy. Done: the coin is now in your Portfolio.
6. 6Later, open the same coin, choose Sell, and pick how much to sell (tap 100% to sell it all).

Start small, like $100, and watch what happens over a few days.