This post aims at people who are new to cryptocurrency world and looking for some basic knowledge about it.
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency. You might have heard of Bitcoin. It became the first decentralized cryptocurrency in 2009. Since then, numerous cryptocurrencies have been created. These are frequently called altcoins. Bitcoin is the most know and at this point the most expensive cryptocurrency. You can read more about it right here.
Now, lets see what your options are.
TRADE
You can buy cryptocurrency on coinbase . If you use this link to sign up and deposit minimum $100 you will get $10 worth of bitcoin for free. The next step would be to register an acount on one of the exchanges where you can start trading your cryptocurrency. Bittrex and Poloniex are quite popular and I use them myself. At this point you have to decide if you want to 'day trade' or invest long term. I think I don't have to explain the difference between those two.
MINE & KEEP or MINE & TRADE
To mine or not to mine... or maybe get someone to mine it for you? If you have a decent graphics card (gpu) you can mine cryptocurrency yourself but lets be honest, you not gonna make a fortune using only one gpu. Mining is profitable if you build 'mining rig', a computer dedicated to mining with multiple gpu's which is on 24/7. If you know how to connect all components together then with a bit of work and time you can build one yourself. If you don't know how or don't want the hassel if something goes wrong, whatever it is, then you can rent a hashing power (rent someones else hardware) to mine cryptocurency for you. The largest company that I know off to offer this sort of service is genesis mining. They own huge mining farms with hundreds or thousands of graphics cards. They also have a selection of coins they can mine for you so you are not limited to one only. If you decide to go this way, use this code 6nYyWA to recive 3% free hashing power on top of what you bought.
I hope I've answered at least some of your questions. Ask and comment below.