This will be a guide on how to buy not only Bitcoin, but a mjority of the other cryptocurrencies out there.
Cryptocurrency exchanges are VERY different than stock market exchanges. Most cryptocurrencies can not be directly bought and sold with fiat money such as the United States Dollar. What this means is that most alt coins are pegged to Bitcoin and sometimes, but not always, Ethereum. When looking at charts, this can be especially confusing for new investors.
For example here is the price for XLM/BTC:
What this means is that 1 XLM is worth the equivalent of .000031 Bitcoin. You can see how confusing this can get as to how much you are actually paying relevant to USD.
Coinbase does not have this issue because all four cryptocurrencies they offer is bought with US currency. The Coinbase exchange offers Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin. There are rumors they may be adding other coins but this is unconfirmed.
Coinbase is quite easy to get started with. It is the most user friendly platform I have come across so far.
You can sign up quickly and easily HERE.
The steps to create an account and set up your bank account is quite straight forward. There are two ways to buy cryptocurrency. The first way is to use your debit/credit card. This has the advantage of instantly gaining access to the cryptocurrency that you chose to buy. The disadvantage with this is that the fees are significantly higher than if you were to buy it through your bank account.
The other way to purchase a cryptocurrency on Coinbase is through linking your bank account. This has the advantage of significantly lowering the fees you incur when buying any of the four cryptocurrencies available on this platform. However, one major disadvantage is that it can take in excess of a week for you to be able to have access to the coin you bought. Make sure you consider both options before initially buying.
A way to get around some of the disadvantages listed above is to send money directly to your USD wallet within Coinbase. You can do this when selling a coin as well. This means the money is kept on your Coinbase account and won't return to your bank account until you choose to do so. The advantage of this is that you can buy cryptocurrency quickly without waiting for access to the coin and you also incur lower fees. I recommend using this option when you can.
GDAX is another exchange that you can use. This is exchange is owned and operated by Coinbase but has lower fees associated with it. When you create a Coinbase account you can sign into GDAX using the same account. However, it is important to note that Coinbase and GDAX only support four cryptocurrencies out of the hundreds out there. Coinbase is important because this is the primary way to convert cryptocurrency back into USD whenever you want to cash out.
Binance is another exchange that supports a large variety of cryptocurrencies. These range from large and well known cryptocurrencies to relatively new, unknown, and low market cap coins. Binance is much less user friendly and will take some time adjusting to.
You can sign up to use Binance HERE. Signing up is straight forward. However funding your account to buy altcoins is not as simple as coinbase. The difference with Binance and Coinbase is that the Binance excahnge uses cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum to buy other alt coins.
The first step you would need to do to fund your account is to send either Bitcoin or Ethereum from your Coinbase wallet to your Binance wallet of the same coin.
This can be done by going under accounts in Coinbase and clicking the "Send" button.
I also suggest using BNB on Binance to lower your transaction fees. You will need to buy a small amount of BNB for this to work and you have to turn it on in your settings as well.
Another resource you can use is the site Tradingview.com. This site allows you to use their interactive charts to analyze a wide range of assets including cryptocurrencies. You can use these charts to do some technical analysis on a coin you are considering. Many people like to post their idea on the site as well. You can access this site directly by clicking here.
Coinbase and Binance are the two most popular exchanges currently. I use them both for different purposes.
It is worth mentioning that the mobile app "Robinhood" which is known for being a place to buy and sell stocks with zero fees is going to be supporting cryptocurrencies as well. The feature is already live for a select few users but they will be rolling out the feature for every user in the coming months. This will be a great tool for any investor to buy cryptocurrency directly with USD and also incur zero trading fees.
If you would like to sign up for Robinhood you can do so HERE.
You will also receive one free random stock for signing up.
I hope this guide has been beneficial in getting you started in cryptocurrency.
Like always, invest carefully and only invest what you can afford to lose.
Good Luck.
Here is an article on getting starting in crypto: https://medium.com/the-mission/cryptocurrency-world-all-you-need-to-get-started-664a70979c2f
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