How to buy Bitcoin in 2021

We have updated the guide on how to buy Bitcoin to be able to invest in this cryptocurrency in 2021. We will focus only on Bitcoin using the web version, but remember that Coinbase also offers a mobile app for its platform from where you can buy without problems.

1. We open an account at Coinbase.

First we will open an account at Coinbase. Coinbase is one exchange among the many available and it is the place where we can send euros or dollars by bank transfer (or credit card). Coinbase has been around for many years and is a reliable company.

2. We choose a method of depositing money

Once we have the account created, we can go to the Prices section, look for BTC in the list and hit Trade.

Once clicked, the following window will appear where we will be asked if we want to buy BTC, sell BTC, or exchange some other cryptocurrency for BTC. We will choose to buy BTC.

Since we still do not have any payment method configured, the following window will appear.

The options available to deposit money in Coinbase are credit card or bank transfer. Keep in mind that although paying by credit card would be immediate, we are charged higher commissions (4%) than making a SEPA transfer (1.5%), so for large amounts of money it is preferable to wait for the transfer to complete bank.

If we choose bank transfer, we will be asked to enter some information (how much money are we going to send) and then we will be asked to write down a reference code that we must specify when making the bank transfer. This code is used so that Coinbase can identify that the money they will receive is ours and associate it with our account.

Remember to click on the text that says I’ve copied or written down my Reference Number to continue to the next step.

Then Coinbase will give us all the bank details so that we can make the transfer of the amount specified above.

3. We buy BTC

Once Coinbase receives the funds (for example euros) they will send us an email to notify us that they have been received correctly and we can see them in our balance on the web.

At this point we have two options:

1. Buy directly from Coinbase for a commission of 1.5%. It is fast and easy. Giving Prices again, looking for BTC and hitting Trade, we will have the same window as before, but this time, as we already have funds entered, it will not ask us for a new payment method and we can buy directly.

1. Buy at Coinbase Pro by a lower commission (0.15%) although in a slightly more complex way, since it is a more advanced tool.

If we say to buy in Coinbase Pro, we will have to enter with the same account that we have created in Coinbase.

Once inside, we must transfer our money from Coinbase to Coinbase Pro, for this we will give DEPOSIT, we choose Euros (or dollars), we will click on Coinbase Account, and we will specify how much money we want to transfer, in case that that’s all, we can give MAX and confirm the transfer.

The transfer should be immediate and we should see it reflected on the left where it says Balance. Once finished, we make sure to choose the BTC-EUR market, we give BUY and in MARKET we can give MAX to buy all the BTCs that our balance allows at market price. Finally we give Place Buy Order. The purchase could take a few minutes to take effect.

4. We keep our BTCs in a safe place

Although it would be possible to leave our BTCs here, my recommendation is that you move them to a safer place: a wallet.

A wallet is a cryptocurrency portfolio of which only we have the access key. If we lose this key we will lose our funds forever, but at least no one will be able to intervene. If Coinbase is hacked in the future we would be totally safe.

For Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum the simplest wallet is blockchain.info and the safest would be Hardware wallets.