Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Dash and Ethereum; cryptocurrencies are particularly interesting for investors and stock market speculators. But where can you actually buy a cryptocurrency as an investor, and how can you participate in its development?
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At Plus500, you can easily make deposits via PayPal and credit card, you can open an account in 15 minutes. Below, we reveal what makes buying crypto-currencies through a CFD broker different, why investing in this field remains exciting and what options you also have to participate in the performance of different digital currencies.
Buy crypto-currencies
The development of crypto-currencies is progressing rapidly. Whereas Bitcoin and Ethereum were the digital means of payment of a few computer geeks a few years ago, they are now the talk of the town among private and speculative investors. The reason is simple: anyone who bought bitcoin for a few hundred euros a few years ago is now a millionaire.
New cryptocurrencies are being born all the time, and Facebook is also entering the digital currency market with its own currency called Libra. If you too have already been infected by the bitcoin craze, you've no doubt already wondered how to participate in the rising value of crypto-currencies and where to buy bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, ripple and more. There are several ways to go about it, and here we highlight the pros and cons of the various options.
The simplest way: trading crypto-currencies as CFDs
Investors who are primarily interested in participating in the performance of a crypto-currency can trade various crypto-currencies relatively easily via a CFD broker. Whatever cryptos you want to trade, a CFD is the simplest way to do it.
You can think of a CFD as a security. As an investor, you participate directly in the evolution of the crypto-currency's price. If the digital currency rises, so does your CFD. However, you don't physically own the internet currency, so you don't own a digital coin or file. This is why speculative investors can leverage a CFD. With a leverage factor of 30, the CFD then falls or rises 30 times more than the price of the crypto-currency. Of course, participation at a 1:1 ratio is also possible.
If you want to buy or sell a crypto-currency as a CFD, you can use Plus500, for example. At Plus500, by the way, you can deposit by credit card and PayPal, and account opening is very quick and postident-free. But of course, you can also use any other CFD broker of your choice.
Buying cryptocurrencies in certificate form
You can also buy certain digital currencies on the exchange. This can be done with a certificate, which allows investors of a speculative nature to participate in the performance of an underlying asset. All you need is a securities account as a prerequisite. A free securities account with excellent conditions is offered, for example, by finanzen.net zero1.
Certificates are already available for some cryptocurrencies. With the Bitcoin participation certificate, you can easily invest in the price trend of the best-known crypto-currency. The certificate replicates the price of bitcoin, but it is not a "real" bitcoin, but a derivative of the crypto-currency. The product allows almost 1:1 participation in bitcoin's price gains and losses against the US dollar – and with no predefined redemption date. To purchase the bitcoin certificate, all you need is a securities account.
Investors can also invest in bitcoin's little brother, bitcoin cash, by means of a certificate. By purchasing Vontobel's Bitcoin Cash Open End Participation Certificate, you can participate in Bitcoin Cash's price performance.
There's also an Ethereum certificate: with the purchase of XBT's participation certificate, you participate in Ethereum's price gains and losses. Banks and certificate issuers are already planning other products for many other Internet currencies. You can find out more about the current situation in our special guides to the various crypto-currencies.
