When starting out in crypto, to say it can be overwhelming is an understatement. Some of the terminology at times is mind blowing, and trying to get your head around all the different types of crypto is nothing short of impossible.
To combat this you must immerse yourself on a journey of learning that will never end and will require hours upon hours of sifting through numerous charts and pages of information . But starting this journey can be extremely difficult and can feel like a minefield. With so much information out there it can be very hard to know what is legitimate and what isn’t.
Below I am going to outline some of the methods I have used to help me learn the World of Crypto and will suggest some of the positives and negatives of my methods. I am certainly nowhere near an expert on crypto and at best I may call myself a novice, but my knowledge on the area is far better now than it was at the start of 2021 when my crypto journey began.
Books
The above book, ‘Cryptocurrency Investing for dummies’ by Kiana Danial, was the first thing I read when starting out in my crypto education. The book covers many aspects of crypto in a simple, easy to read manner.
The book starts off by explaining what blockchain technology is and why it is important to the future of the internet. It then looks at Bitcoin in depth and gives some analysis on the top 20 alt coins from when the book was published.
Finally, it provides some ideas about crypto trading, storage of crypto and how to keep your crypto safe. All of these being very important if you are going to be a long term investor in this space.
The main advantage of this book is the simplicity of the language used within it and the diagrams that are used throughout to help explain some key concepts. On top of this, most important areas of crypto are covered leaving no stone unturned.
However, the main issue with this book and any other book that you read about crypto is that it soon becomes outdated. Crypto is rapidly changing, the changes are so fast that even crypto experts find it impossible to keep up to date with everything that is going on. For this reason, make sure you check the publication date so that you are aware that some aspects (not all) might be no longer relevant. I bought ‘Cryptocurrency investing for dummies’ in 2021 even though it was published in 2019 and most of the book was still relevant to crypto today.
When you type crypto into your twitter search bar, it will show you how many times this has been hashtaged in the previous hour. This number can fluctuate greatly, but even in the most baron periods for crypto this number will be at least several thousands. When you times this by the number of hours in a day you are looking at over 100,000 tweets per day about crypto.
This suggests that there is a lot of crypto related content to be found on Twitter, which can be very helpful for those starting out. However, the main issue lies with what content is useful and what content is pure bulls**t.
Unfortunately, too many influential crypto twitter accounts are paid by crypto companies to shill their latest sh*t coins and many make extraordinary claims such as, Ethereum is going to a 20k by the end of the week. This can make it difficult to know who to trust and who not to trust. However, there is hope with a number of very good twitter accounts that you should follow for up to date and accurate news, along with reasonable long and short term price predictions based upon thorough technical analysis.
Good Twitter accounts to follow are:
Coins Kid- Technical analysis on a variety of coins
Rekt City- Bitcoin price action
Emperor- Ideas and tutorials on how to trade crypto
Valerio- Price forecasts based on technical analysis
Bloodgood- Technical analysis techniques
Raoul Pal- Information on the macro picture for crypto
Altcoin daily- Price action for alt coins
Michael Van de Poppe- Price action and news for crypto
Ivan on Tech- Price action and news for crypto
YouTube
Much like twitter, Youtube experiences issues with ‘crypto experts’ posting material that is nothing short of just pure lies. In the past, I have watched videos that have claimed that Vechain is going to 3 dollars by the end of 2021. As the year closed, Vechain was trading at around 8 cent. This demonstrates that you must be careful what you believe and make sure you combine several sources of information before making an informed decision.
There is lots of good content on youtube and below are some of the main channels that I regularly view:
Coin Bureau
Coins kid
Michael Van de Poppe
Ivan on Tech
Real Vision Finance
Real Vision Crypto
You will notice that I have repeated some names from my twitter list. This is because I trust the content from these individuals and feel that they provide realistic ideas and predictions and are not just ‘Moon Boys’ that say anything for the sake of it.
Make sure to subscribe to these channels, to save you the hassle of searching for them every time you enter Youtube. You will also get updates from the channel on any upcoming content etc.
Trading View
Trading View offers many learning opportunities for those just entering into crypto. Firstly, it is by far the best tool to use for observing market charts. With the free version, you can add up to 2 extra chart indicators onto your market charts. If you are someone that is looking to trade frequently or even as a full time job, it would be wise to upgrade to a more advanced package, as you will have access to more chart indicators, which will help with your trading technique. Unfortunately, upgrading does come at a cost.
In addition, on the home screen of Trading view you have a tab titled ‘news’. This is a great place to get up to date news about the crypto markets. It not only gives news about specific crypto coins, but also the market as a whole, which can give you a feel for the market sentiment for crypto at any given time.
Finally, you can look at ideas surrounding future price predictions of coins by clicking on the ideas tab. In this area, the ideas are shared by all kinds of individuals, so be careful of trusting everything you see. Again, look at a number of various ideas shared and see if certain price ranges continue to reappear. If there is a trend, then it may be an idea to consider some of these price actions, but remember, nothing in crypto is guaranteed.
Coin Gecko
Coin Gecko is a must use website for all crypto enthusiasts. It has many uses for crypto veterans and newbies alike. There are 3 particular aspects of the website that beginners should look to exploit as soon as possible.
Firstly, for every coin you search, Coin Gecko will provide a summary of the token which will include its tokenomics, token utility and other pieces of important information. For beginners, this information is ideal as it gives you a basic outline and is not too detailed. If a token takes your interest, and you want more information, it is worth reading the tokens white paper which can be found on the tokens website.
Secondly, Coin Gecko allows you to make portfolios where you can keep all coins that you own or have an interest in. This is helpful as it allows you to keep track of the price of coins that are of importance to you and prevents you from having to scroll through the thousands of coins that can be viewed on Coin Gecko.
Finally, a new feature on Coin Gecko is called ‘categories’. This shows what categories each coin belongs to such as Metaverse or DeFi. This can be very handy to see what categories are doing well at any given time and can give advice on where the best investment opportunities can be found. However, if you notice that a particular category has pumped hugely of late (recent examples include the metaverse and gaming sections), then it might be worth waiting for that particular category to cool off before looking to invest.
Other things to consider
Some influential crypto enthusiasts offer insight information through Discord group chats. Usually they require an invite or you must be accepted to join. There are plenty of good free discord groups out there, so try to refrain from paying to enter groups, as often they can be expensive and a waste of money.
For most coins within cryptocurrency, there will be some form of telegram group. There is usually an official group, where admins from within the company provide an array of information which can be very useful for token holders.
Also most coins have a price discussion group. These can be interesting places, full of moon boys and fudders. Proceed with caution in these groups as much of the information can be untrue and can create an unrealistic idea on future price action.
Conclusion
If you are someone starting out in crypto, I hope this article will give you some ideas on where to start. This article certainly does not include everything and there are many other ways in which to learn about crypto. Try out different ideas and then see which ones work for you. Make sure you don’t give up on your education in crypto as it certainly has the potential to change your life in the future. What is more useful to you? An hour on facebook or an hour of improving your knowledge on a topic that is going to change the World in years to come!!