How to trade on BITSTAMP?

Bitstamp was started, like Amazon, Harley, Davidson, Apple, Disney, and Google, in a garage. Now, that doesn’t mean that all good things start in garages or that all things started in a garage will turn out like Disney (we wish), but, considering it is currently number 7 in terms of daily trading volume with a daily volume of $158,934,718, Bitstamp is an intriguing choice.

We’re back with beginners’ reviews that will make life considerably easier for you if you’ve seriously decided to get engaged with cryptocurrency exchanges.

We hope you have read the previous articles and have a good idea of how exchanges work, so we will be focusing less on the techy side of things (although it will all still make sense). We do recommend you read the other articles even if you didn't so, you can make up your mind. The more aware you are of your options, the better choice you will make.

Before you make the relationship official, however, take into consideration the usual precautions. It is possible to make money trading, but we strongly recommend consulting an analyst before you make any serious moves and doing all your background research.

We have gathered as much information as possible, so you can make intelligent choices here, but please make sure you read all the project documentation carefully and do your own research. Like the saying goes, fail to prepare=prepare to fail. And never trade using borrowed funds.

Bitstamp is the brainchild of two childhood friends (aaawn) who were smart enough to understand that at the time there was little in the way of exchanges in the European market. MTGox was pretty much the only choice, and that had long waiting times and the process was highly unstable and risky.

They created the service, and then (thank God!) MT Gox collapsed due to the lack of something our Slovenian friends in their garage had more of than the staff at MTGox, which is intellect, awareness of the market, and operational prudence. Now Bitstamp is one of the most successful exchanges out there.

In order to start trading, you will need to deposit. And if you thought SEPA was some weird Belgian cheese or something you found in septic tanks, it is, actually, a very solid payment method, at least according to Bitstamp:

“Introducing SEPA is the largest payments initiative ever undertaken within Europe and will affect the 27 EU Member States, the three European Economic Area (EEA) countries, and Switzerland. It is a natural step forward following the creation of the European Union (EU) and the implementation in 1999 of a single currency in Europe aiming at strengthening the European internal market by removing the most important obstacles for trade in goods and services.”

So…

Log in.

Go to the “Deposit” section.

Choose your method.

EU Bank (SEPA) => Select which balance you want to top up and input the amount, click Deposit, and don’t forget to include your reference details in the transactions (details will be provided).

International Bank = > Select which balance you want to top up and input the amount, the currency you are about to send, click Deposit and don’t forget to include your reference details in the transaction (details will be provided).

In order to use a credit card, go the (page), choose your cryptocurrency from the menu on the left, the currency you will pay with, and the amount, input the credit card details, and click the “Submit” button.

• Go to https://www.bitstamp.net/account/withdraw/.
  
• Check the accuracy of your information.
  
• Don’t forget about the withdrawal fee.
  
• Select the withdrawal option on the left.
  
• Select the amount and the destination address.
  
• Follow the instructions.

Use the graphs at TradeView to check out price tendencies.

Choose the market you need in the upper left corner of your account.

Choose the type of order you want to place, choose the amount, and place a Buy order using the Buy/Sell page.

We are in favor if instant orders, which enable you to make a decision based on your current market predictions, although we like the options Bitstamp provides, like Limit orders, which will basically make your dreams come true:

“The limit order gives you the power to set a specific price at which you would like to buy or sell the desired amount of cryptocurrency.Example: If the current market price is 10000 USD for 1 BTC and you want to buy at 9000 USD for 1 BTC, simply place a limit buy order at the preferred price. When the market reaches your set price, an instant order is triggered, and your limit order gets executed. and stop orders, which will save you if the price drops below your expectations (nice strategic move), although trailing stop orders are the best option by far.”

There is a reason we say reputation isn’t everything, but it does go a long way. Bitstamp has been around for 7 years, during which it has proved it is one of the most dependable exchanges around, and (7 is a lucky number) it is 7th in terms of 24hr volume (Binance, Bitfinex, and Huobi, respectively, are at the top) according to CryptoCoinCharts.

It offers a well-developed API, fiat currencies like dollars and euros as well as the major currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ripple, “the stamp of approval from more than 3 million traders throughout the world, an intuitive, safe, simple and secure to use and engaging environment for trading”, access to everyone from around the world, a very nice interface, a whole team’s dossier with photos on the website (a very nice touch, and one that is usually ignored by exchanges, alas) - and a very lengthy FAQ section. Which, again, is rare, at least in our experience.

Also, consider the enormous amounts of work it takes to get granted (and retain) a European license, and it becomes evident that this may be the most impressive exchange we have encountered so far.

The answer is, with caution. Well, not really, since it was the first to use the most major security mechanisms know today like cold storage wallets and multisig technology, and it has plenty of other mechanisms in place.

Just make sure you use as many of them as possible and avoid storing large quantities in exchanges (which Bitstamp helps with). So far, with offices in the UK, Slovenia and California, ridiculous KYC thoroughness, and hard-to-find options like acceptance of debit and credit cards, Bitstamp have proven they are one of the most reliable exchanges around (nothing speaks like experience). Still, remember, you are in good hands, but that still leaves you with the need to know what you’re doing at all times. By the way, if you forget, they won’t, and you’ll be running into this at every step:

The registration is remarkably simple and, like all other stuff on the site, is written in a precise, silky-smooth, and mesmerizing English that is at the same time very beautiful. Is it stylish because Luxembourg is neighbours with France, precisely because it borders with Germany, and silky-smooth because of eating a lot of Belgium chocolate (also a neighbour)? We don’t know, but we are very certain that you can tell a lot about the level at which a company is operating by its level of English it employs, and it is certainly doing very well.

To register, enter your First Name, Last Name, Email, and country, agree to the T+Cs (just at least take a look at them...please?), and verify you’re not a robot.

You are officially in as soon as you check your email for the password confirmation email, which the exchange reminds you to change as soon as you can. A small but nice touch is something that not many exchanges have done so far, and that is providing additional motivation where they didn't have to:

“Thank you for registering at Bitstamp exchange service! At this point, you have just contributed a great deal to the future of the decentralized monetary market. If you are not already a bitcoin user, please read about the benefits that bitcoin is offering to modern society. Feel free to invite your friends and family members to the bitcoin community and learn about the advantages that bitcoin is offering to users”

With that, we do ask you not to forget to use security mechanisms. That means verifying your account and enabling 2FA verification.

At this point, you will find there are two types of account: personal and business. Personal accounts will require KYC checks at their best, for which you will need an ID and proof of residence. Business accounts have a different procedure as part of which a company member will get in touch with you on the phone, but you will need to upload documents too. Getting verified will take a long time thanks to numbers of willing new users (expect around 3 days’ wait in total).

Although it is annoying that there is a lot of details to fill in (and bigger the amounts the more information), there is a sense of security with this exchange. As the man says, it doesn't make you feel more secure that the company is doing everything by the book, so we definitely recommend doing business with them so far.

The company was originally created in Slovenia but later moved to Luxembourg. The exchange was created in 2011, and a short while later, following its success, it was moved to the UK in 2013, where it was working unregulated by the current authorities (thanks to the fact that Bitcoin was a stranger to the UK at the time and hardly anyone knew what to do with it). The year of 2013 was also the proud time when Pantera Capital, one of the authorities in the industry, has invested $10 million in Bitstamp.

In 2016, after showcasing an impressive array of skills to do with internal regulation and keeping their customers’ money safe, it was accepted in Luxembourg where it started acting under full regulation and supervision of the law. Bitstamp interestingly was the first exchange of its kind to be granted permission to work in the EU (according to Bitstamp). Bistamp, thus, is a fully European exchange, which is kind of visible when you enter the main page by how well it is designed. It’s actually kind of beautiful:

• Intuitive but quality interface with decent graphs.
• Bouncebackability and strength in the face of hacking, meltdowns, and adversity in many forms.
• Good cost of service compared with services of the same quality.
• Free currency conversion.
• Depositing Ripple, Litecoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash is free.
• Relatively fast transfers.
• Reliability.
• Able to work with all 28 member states of the EU.
• Regulated by Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier.