I am no crypto expert, nor am I any kind of financial specialist. Actually, I am relatively still a "newbie", as far as cryptocurrency is concerned. However, I am a quick learner, and I might just be onto something... ;)
Most people that are talking about crypto speak of BITCOIN and ETHEREUM as these two are presently the highest ranked and valuable among all crypto currencies. But there are actually hundreds of different coins, most of which the general public will probably end up never hearing about. These coins are what interests us for the purpose of this article.
The smaller coins, as opposed to their bigger counter parts, are, as their name implies, VERY small value wise. Some are not even worth pennies. But accordingly, your ability to purchase a whole lot of them at once is far greater than it is for their big brothers. Still, with so many different coins out there, how the hell are you going to know which ones are worth investing in? This is where the fun part begins...
First, you have to know a bit about cryptocurrency exchanges, stock markets for crypto, if you will. There are many of them, but we want to focus on those that list the smaller coins, as the more mainstream exchanges have a tendency to overlook these little guys. Two of the exchanges I recommend are CRYPTOPIA and KUCOIN.
Those two exchanges are among the few that take small coins in consideration, and together, they allow you to have access to a very good selection, as one exchange lists some coins that the other doesn't and vice versa. I therefore advise you register to both.
Now that you have your market accounts set, let's look into getting funds to these accounts, so you can begin trading. Most exchanges don't allow direct FIAT ("real" money) deposits, so you will need to go through an intermediary. There are hundreds of them, which you might also want to look into once you have made some profit trading, in order to cash out your gains. You have to be careful though, as many of them charge ENORMOUS transaction fees, or are simply scammers trying to deprive you of your hard earn crypto. That's why I will remain in the "safe" zone and recommend you use one of the mainstream ones to start. We are talking about COINBASE, one of the more stable and verifiable companies, that allows you to purchase BITCOIN, ETHEREUM or LITECOIN, three of the top ranked crypto, with actual money.
Once you created your account, I recommend you purchase ETHEREUM for the purpose of transferring funds to your accounts, as the fees for BITCOIN transactions are more than TWICE as high, which is simply not an interesting option right now.
So once you purchased as much ETHEREUM as you want, decide to which exchange you are going to transfer funds to and find the corresponding ETHEREUM ADDRESS (in the "balances" section for Cryptopia and the "deposit" section for Kucoin) and type it in the space provided to that purpose, in COINBASE "send" section. You might want to do something else while you wait for the coins to be transfered, as it might take a while, sometimes up to an hour, but it's usually faster. Don't worry, if you pasted in the correct address, they WILL get there.
Once your funds have been added to the ETHEREUM balance in the exchange(s) you chose. You can now begin trading.
First, you will need to "sell" your ETHEREUM in order to convert them into BITCOIN, as it is the currency used to purchase all the other coins. Go to the "markets" section and look up ETHEREUM. Once you found it, select "sell" and indicate the amount you want to sell. You can sell all or keep some ETHEREUM and indicate another amount.
Now that you have converted you ETHEREUM to BITCOIN, we will look at the other tool we need to use in order to learn how to profit from small coins. We are talking about the authority on cryptocurrency pricing, COINMARKETCAP.COM.
COINMARKETCAP is where you will get the information you need about the coins you want to buy, so you can sell them later for a quick profit. Look for the section named "trending" and select "gainers and losers".
Now let's have closer look at that section.
By default, the list shows you the data for the last 24H period. You can also look at 1H (one hour) or 7D (seven days). I usually prefer the 24H one, as it allows me to get a decent feel of which coin might be a good buy.
You will notice that next to the coin's name, there is the coin's abbreviation, the volume in USD for the last 24H period, the current price in USD and THE GROWTH PERCENTAGE. THIS is what will be telling you which coin you might want to look closer into purchasing.
Select a coin that you think might be a good buy and click on its name in the list. This will bring you to a more detailed information page, where you will also get a visual depiction of that coin's market tendencies. For the purpose of this example, I will use LeaCoin.
As you can see, this coin has recently "exploded" in value, and it seems to still be on the rise. That might be a good opportunity for you to make a profit. You will however need to keep in mind that the coin can also "crash" at any moment, as those small coins tend to fluctuate A LOT. Therefore, you will need to keep a close eye on it and sell the moment you think it seems like the value is taking too much of a "dip" to your taste. These things are all up to your personal appreciation in risk taking, as some people like to gamble more than others. I usually prefer to refresh the coin's page a few times at a couple minutes interval, before I jump in and buy some. It allows me to appreciate the coin's current tendency better.
Another valuable piece of information you get from the page is the coin's rank and whether the coin is "mineable" (you might want go google the term "crypto mining"). You also generally get the link to the coin's public web page, but in the case of LEA coin, there seems not to be a web page available at the moment.
When a coin has a web page, I strongly recommend having a look at it and getting to know as much as you can about that coin. You might find additional info that will prove to be useful to you in deciding whether to invest in that coin or not, like any announcements about new developments with the coin or its practical use as a currency. For example, a coin that is said to have just worked a deal with a hot new online trading app might be gaining value in the near future, or a coin that has announced it will be listed in several new exchanges might also climb the charts. This will be your call to determine if you think any of it has an impact.
All things considered, day trading is not for everyone, you have to be able to spend several consecutive hours monitoring your chosen coins, are they are subject to drop at any given moment and my require a quick reaction on your part. But for those who like gambling and the adrenalin of the thrill, small coins are definitely where it's at! Again, let me stress out that I AM NOT AN EXPERT and ANY AND ALL ADVICE is given for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. But who knows? Maybe you will end up being quite entertained by them... ;)
If you liked this article and feel like giving me a pat on the back, here are my respective crypto coin addresses:
Musicoin: 0x1a4b09d52e5a04741c1a140be2d5e88214ab23dd
Ethereum: 0xf1b3bfc9d45035d68c9692710ee867d4398d1e60
Bitcoin: 1FpdSmg8e5QC7Ewz8zP2CdkzBJCvGHzxPg
Bitcoin Cash: 1FpdSmg8e5QC7Ewz8zP2CdkzBJCvGHzxPg
Steem (must send Bitcoin): 38r3JbasWpAKL9Dxu2yp2bA2dTm4JFUMVL
Thank you for reading and may your small coins go TO THE MOON! :D