How to Buy Bitcoin Effortlessly

During turbulent times in the crypto space, the discussions around whether to short sell or buy Bitcoin (BTC) intensifies.

Here, Crypto Lists will guide you to where you can buy Bitcoin effortlessly and how you can do it in less than 30 seconds.

It’s possible to buy Bitcoin and hold it using various different methods – but through an exchange is the easiest way for long-term holding. Alternatives for more short term trading include spot trading, CFDs, ETFs, futures, options and even ATMs are explored below.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if there are any questions missing that you’d like to get an answer to.

Which ways can you buy or sell BTC?

Depending on your preferences and experience, you can use an exchange, platform, CFD broker or DEX for your trading. Below is an description how each works, and their pros and cons.

Buy BTC with a platform

Crypto platforms allow users to buy Bitcoin in the most straight forward and intuitive way possible. While they are optimal for beginners because of the interface, usability and simplicity.

Pros
+ The easiest way to trade. Just press “buy” and hey presto… you’ve just bought some Bitcoin or other altcoins.
+ User friendly without the complicated vocabulary.
+ Quick and straight forward to sign up.
+ No hassle with limit orders.

Cons
– You can only go long. Note: You cannot go short on BTC on platforms.
– Less cryptocurrencies to buy compared to exchanges. They might not have Bitcoin Cash (BCH) or Bitcoin Gold (BTG) for example.
-Slightly higher commission and mark up fees when you purchase BTC than with exchanges. However, on Coinbase. there is an ‘Advanced Trade’ section that brings some advanced features to what is considered a beginners’ platform. And with this, lower fees.

Buy or sell with an exchange

Crypto exchanges allow the most advanced Bitcoin trading or investment experience. Apart from DEXs, no other types of crypto site have lower prices for Bitcoin when you’re looking to buy.

Pros
+ The lowest prices when you buy BTC.
+ Lowest spread between buy and sell price for Bitcoin.
+ Advanced trading features.

Cons
– Some of the exchanges are difficult to navigate, with features designed for advanced trading professionals.
– Not all exchanges are available in every country.
– Sometimes it’s difficult to tell where an exchange is regulated, or if it’s regulated at all. That’s why it’s always helpful to check our reviews to get a good overview before you sign up to one.

Buy Bitcoin with a broker

Most international crypto brokers offer leverage, even if that varies between countries. For instance, in the U.S, regulated Bitcoin brokers do not offer any leverage to clients, while European and Asian CFD brokers provide leverage on Bitcoin positions. While most brokers in Europe and Asia provide spot trading with Bitcoin CFDs, North American crypto brokers only allow the sale of the pure asset or Bitcoin futures. That’s why it’s always worth reading a review or checking the individual site’s terms and conditions.

Pros
+ Brokers give experienced traders a big variety of options on how to trade Bitcoin, dependent on your location.
+ Signing up and trading can be done in less than 30 seconds on many broker sites.
+ Buying Bitcoin on Skilling for example has much lower spreads than many other sites, and with over 15 liquidity providers, you can be sure to get a quick execution on your Bitcoin orders.

Cons
– Brokers can be very advanced for beginners, making them difficult to navigate.
– The best features aren’t always available, particularly for customers in the United States
– On brokers outside of the US, you aren’t actually buying the real asset but a representation of it. This is classified as a deriviative or a CFD. On the other hand, you don’t need to worry about passwords and keys.

Buy Bitcoin with a DEX

Decentralized exchanges can be a superb way to buy or sell Bitcoin. The pioneers of the cryptocurrency and blockchain space wanted exchanges free from top-down interference, essentially a libertarian utopia. It’s fairly easy to make the case that buying Bitcoin on a decentralized exchange is the closest to this ‘Wild West’ philosophy. In addition, they also have an almost unlimited amount of pairings comapared to centralized exchanges. Among the biggest cons is lack of regulation and that you only can do deposits with crypto.

Pros
+ Almost unlimited amount of Bitcoin pairings with other cryptos.
+ Many argue that DEXs represent crypto trading in its purest form.
+ No middlemen involved.

Cons
– Most DEXs aren’t regulated at all, and have anonymous teams behind them. While this sticks to the original crypto principles, it can be risky.
– You cannot deposit with fiat into any DEX, so debit cards like Visa and Mastercard are not an option here.
– There can be lack of liquidity on multiple smaller DEXs.

How to buy Bitcoin? 170+ deposit options

There are over 170 different options to purchase Bitcoin from the comfort of your home. Below are some of the most common ones.

Fiat to BTC

You can buy Bitcoin with fiat currencies such as the Euro (EUR), US Dollar (USD), Swedish Krona (SEK), Norwegian Krone (NOK), British Sterling (GBP), Japanese Yen (JPY), Australian Dollar (AUD), Canadian Dollar (CAD), Swiss Franc (CHF), Hong Kong Dollar (HKD), Singapore Dollar (SGD), South Korean Won (KRW), Indian Rupee (INR), Mexican peso (MXN), New Zealand dollar (NZD), South African Rand (ZAR), Brazilian Real (BRL), Polish Zloty (PLN) and Russian Ruble (RUB). Even more fiat options include the Polish Zloty (PLN), Indonesian rupiah (IDR), Czech Koruna (CZK), UAE Dirhamn (AED) and Phillipine Peso (PHP).

Here are the top debit card methods used to purchase with traditional currencies:
Buy Bitcoin with Visa
Buy Bitcoin with Mastercard
Buy Bitcoin with UnionPay
Buy Bitcoin with Maestro

Crypto to BTC

Many people exchange other cryptocurrencies for Bitcoin, when they realise that it’s more stable than most other options. Two of the most traded cryptos are Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (ETH), and entusiasts love to compare the strength of both.

Payment processors to BTC

All serious payment processors accept purchases with Bitcoin. Our six favourite are:

Mercuryo is a payment processor founded by eastern Europeans. Crypto exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Kucoin, MEXC Global and Gate IO offer fiat to Bitcoin purchases with Mercuryo. They have good exchange rates for fiat (USD, GBP, EUR or RUB) to Bitcoin and offer a quick and straight forward way to invest. Their fees are 2.95% when selling BTC and 3.95% when buying Bitcoin. The minimum commission is 4 USD or 3 GBP or 4 EUR or 50 RUB.

Banxa opened in 2014 and has become one of the biggest crypto payment processing companies on the market. Their primary goal is to meet the high demand for fast digital payment solutions with the highly affordable rates. They aim to ‘accelerate the world to web3’ using a one-of-a-kind on-and-off ramp solution. It’s good to buy Bitcoin fast, since they endevour to complete all transactions in under 30 minutes.

Moonpay’s slogan is “crypto just got easy“. But is Moonpay really easier than other fiat to crypto payment processors? No, we think it’s about the same. But it’s definetely a fast, inutitive, and straight forward way of buying Bitcoin. As a bonus, Moonpay also processes NFT.

BTC Direct: BTC Direct is a really good direct payment method where users can transact using both crypto and Euros. The transaction speed on the exchange is within two minutes. The transaction is fast and facilitated through nodes and miners, who process it in the blockchain.

Simplex: it’s grown from a starup to one of the more popular providers available on a variety of exhanges and trading platforms. The service is extremely fast and very easy to use. It supports credit and debit cards, as well as various cryptocurrencies. These include BTC, BSV, BNB, ATOM, DASH, and XRP.

CoinsPaid: Another fast growing payment processor for BTC and other cryptocurrencies. The costs starts at 5 EUR for transactions with CoinsPaid. Read more and find a toplist of sites accepting CoinsPaid here.

Buy or sell Bitcoin?

Reasons to go short in Bitcoin

+ If you have a good understanding of the market, then shorting crypto is a way to leverage your knowledge to generate large returns, especially if you do so with a crypto broker. This is because they tend to offer the best leverage options. However, many larger exchanges also offer margin trading, so your options are plentiful. You can have a look around our site to find the options that are best for you.

+ Bitcoin is the ‘granddaddy’ of the entire crypto space, and despite years of rumors of Ethereum or one of the other smart contract networks surpassing its market cap… it’s yet to happen. And, it doesn’t look likely for a while. Shorting Bitcoin successfully can bring you funds to then place into positions on other coins, which will more than likely follow the same trend. But, this isn’t investment advice and just an obervation based on our experience in crypto.

Reasons for going long in Bitcoin

+ Many industry experts predict enormous price increases for Bitcoin over the long term. Some even predict the scarcity aspect of Bitcoin’s fixed total supply means one day we could see $1m per coin.

+ Bitcoin is the original crypto and the primary store of value in the space. Despite many predicting the dominance of BTC being surpassed by others, at this present moment that seems unlikely. Bitcoin dictates the market.

Where to buy BTC?

Before deciding where to buy Bitcoin, it’s worth considering your time horizon and nature of the purchase. Is the BTC purchase a long-term investment? Then an exchange or platform would be suitable. Or it rather a short term and speculative trade? Then a Bitcoin-supporting broker could be a better option, since they are created for day traders with graphs, breaking news, high liquidity, and excellent leverage options. There are also crypto platforms that are better suited to new market entrants where you can buy Bitcoin easily and simply. Though you might expect to pay slightly higher fees when buying from fiat and spreads when trading with other crypto coins. The most famous is Coinbase, but we have plenty of others for you to read about.

Two of our favorite crypto brokers can be found below:

Skilling: they’re one of the most well-known brokers in Scandinavia and are growing in popularity around the world. They have a superbly designed website that’s recently gone through a rebrand, and have won numerous prestigious awards. If Crypto Lists had to recommend only one broker for buying Bitcoin, Skilling would be right up there. What makes Skilling different to many, is that they also offer trading outside of the crypto space. This is evidenced by them winning Best Forex Trading Platform at the Global Forex Awards 2022. Sign up for Skilling today and give them a try!.

eToro: eToro is famous for sponsoring a wide array of sporting clubs, including more than 10 football teams in England’s ‘Premier League’. But most of all, they’re well known for being one the world’s leading crypto brokers. Like Skilling, eToro  gives you a chance to trade forex, stocks, cryptocurrencies, indices, EFTs, and commodities. Check out eToro and see for yourself!
US customers only have access to cryptocurrencies. eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

Different ways to buy and trade Bitcoin

When it comes to trading pairs, there are quite a few options out there. These range from fiat currency directly to Bitcoin, and from stablecoins and other altcoins such as Ether or Solana. And, there are also different ways to trade Bitcoin. Below we go through all the major methods that can be used to trade Bitcoin, and some of them can also be used for shorting BTC.

Bitcoin spot trading

One of the most common forms of trading BTC is through spot trading. When buying Bitcoin this way, you will receive immediate delivery of your position. You can spot trade Bitcoin on websites such as Binance, Kucoin and Skilling – in a simple and straightforward manner. The name spot trading derives from getting delivery on the spot, right now. The main difference is BTC futures, where the price you pay today is based on what you expect it to be in the future. Meanwhile, spot traders only pay the current Bitcoin market price and can decide themselves when to sell – or if they prefer to HODL instead.

Bitcoin Futures

Both long and short positions are allowed when you trade Bitcoin with a futures contract. The settle date may be in January, March, May or any other date that you choose – in the near future or even one year ahead. The price you pay to buy BTC futures depends on the current market price for the asset, and expectations for the future. If not so many believe that the price will go up in the next 6 months, the price could be low, but if a majority of those trading BTC futures expect the price to go up, it might not be such a good deal to go long. One of the best sites for futures trading is called Kucoin (see review). The have lower fees than other participants for Bitcoin futures, and it’s one of the top 5 futures exchanges. Transfers to and from Kucoin are considerably faster than most other crypto exchanges and their fees are better too. Sign-up for futures trading at Kucoin now!

Bitcoin CFD

A CFD means Contract For Different, and it’s a type of derivative instrument. It’s important to remember that you do not own Bitcoin assets when purchasing CFDs. Instead, you are investing in an instrument that follows the price for Bitcoin and you can either go long or short when holding CFDs. Our top rated Bitcoin CFD broker is the Scandinavian founded firm called Skilling (see review), that have the lowest possible Bitcoin CFD spread in the market. Even during periods with reasonable high volatility, both BTC and ETH as CFDs got very reasonable prices. Bitcoin mini (1/100 in size compared to the normal) only got 3 points spread as standard. Bitcoin EUR got 56 points spread in average, while BTC/GBP only have 32 points spread. Meanwhile, ETH vs EUR have an even lower average spread, standing at 3.9 points during our tests. Not a customer yet? Sign-up for a free demo account with Skilling now! (Ps. For North Americans we recommend eToro US instead).

Bitcoin ETF

The word ETF stands for exchange traded fund. There are several types of Bitcoin ETFs and none of the have more than 600 million USD under management. Some of the best ones for going long are ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF or BITO as it’s called. Just a few days after launching, BITO reached over 1 billion in assets under management. However, the downturn in BTC futures have lead to around 570M USD in management when writing this. Another ETH with slighly lower fees is VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF). They have less than 30M invested at the moment and the cost is 0.65% of the invested capital.

For those looking to go short in Bitcoin, there is ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF (BITI), with an expense ratio of 0.95% and a little over 100M USD in managed capital. The value of the Proshares BITI ETF goes up in value, when Bitcoin futures goes down in value.

Bitcoin Options

There are two types of options to consider and the one you go for depends on your Bitcoin market outlook. If you are hopeful that prices will rise in price, a buy or call option is what to consider. If you instead believe that Bitcoin prices should continue down, then a sell option is the way to go. Below are the top two sites offering Bitcoin options globally, even if some countries might be excluded.

Buy options or call options as finance guys would phrase are best bought with Binance (see review). They have most asset under management of all crypto exchanges, and very good prices to invest in buy options. Sign-up for Binance here.

Sell options or “put options” as they are called in financial terms can be bought with OKX (read review). While they also got buy options, we find their prices for sell options to be even more competitive than their competitors. Sign-up for OKX here.

Bitcoin ATMs

Not really an instrument, and this option is only available for those that are looking to cash in on their Bitcoin holdings. Crypto Lists got a 0.5% when you buy or take out Bitcoin holdings in person. Read more about BGTC in Marbella here and grab your discount.

Analysts Price Predictions for Bitcoin

Few assets got so diverse price predictions as Bitcoin. Here, Crypto Lists collected a few of the most prominent price estimates.

+Catie Wood: She expects that the price of Bitcoin will go up to one million per coin by 2030.
+Jim Cramer: The American TV-personality predict that BTC will reach 1 million in the future.
+John McAfee: He made a guess that Bitcoin will go up to 1 million USD by 2020. Looking back, we can see that he was wrong.
+Tyler Winklevoss, February 2018 – Bitcoin could reach $320 000 said Tyler, but he did not say any date.
+Tim Draper: His estimate that BTC will skyrocket to 250 000 USD by 2020 was wrong. Back in 2014, or the 27th of June to be more exact, he bought 30 000 Bitcoins on an auction, which was seized from the Silk Road. He paid 19 million USD for that batch.
+Steve Wozniak, March 2022 – I think bitcoin is going to go to $100,000. Same here, no exact date or even year mentioned.
+Max Keiser: The American broadcaster estimate that Bitcoin will be worth 100 000 USD in the long term.
+Joseph Stiglitz: The Nobel price winner for economic sciences in 2001, does not believe in crypto. Joseph estimate that Bitcoin will fall to 100 USD in value, after being regulated into senselessness. In Europe, the MICA regulation goes into effect the 1st of January, 2024.
+Nouriel Roubini: The Turkish born American economist that took his PhD at Harvard University think that Bitcoin will reach 10 dollar. No date for this estimated price collapse is set yet.

Buying Bitcoin FAQ

Some of the most frequently asked questions related to purchases of the most traded cryptocurrency can be found below:

Can I buy a fraction of Bitcoin?

Yes, you do not have to buy a full bitcoin. You can even purchase 10 dollars worth of Bitcoin if you wish. Most people who invest in Bitcoin don’t have a whole one. Did you know that a ‘satoshi’ (named after Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto) is the smallest denomination of Bitcoin. It’s equivalent to 100 millionth of a Bitcoin. The reason it exists is because of the traditional and original function of Bitcoin as a payment method for everyday items.

Famous Bitcoin transactions

+ Buying pizza with Bitcoin – the most expensive pizza ever? In 2010, an early adopter of the famous crypto spent 10,000 BTC on two large pizzas. In 2021, that would have been worth almost $400m. In fact, the buyer in question (Jeremy Sturdivant) claims he spent around 100,000 in total on pizzas during his student days, which in the bull market of 2021 would be worth around $4bn.

+ The first house in Portugal that was bought with BTC. In May 2022, an investor bought a three-bed apartment in the city of Braga for 3 BTC. Or, around €110,000 at the time of purchase. According to sources, it was the first time real estate had been bought with Bitcoin without conversion in the whole of the European Union.

+ Buying a car with Bitcoin Yes, you can buy a Tesla with BTC, or with Dogecoin for that matter. Still, most car dealers do not accept cryptocurrencies so head to Tesla if you like to make a simple purchase.

+ Buy gold with BTC? – If you are looking for a fairly stable asset that has proven it’s value over time, then buying gold for some of your Bitcoin can be an option.

Can I buy Bitcoin without an exchange?

Yes, you can either go with a DEX – if you already have cryptocurrencies that you are prepared to exchange, or you can use a platform (more simple form) or you can buy Bitcoin CFDs from a broker. You can also buy directly from a payment processor such as BTC Direct, Banxa, Mercuryo, Moonpay, CoinsPaid or Simplex.

Is it possible to buy Bitcoin without ID?

Non licenses crypto exchanges will not ask for an ID, at least not before a certain limit – such as a few thousands dollars. Still, the risk is way higher that such a company goes bankrupt (like FTX) so Crypto Lists always recommend to provide your ID and buy crypto assets from exchanges and crypto sites that are regulated in trustworthy jurisdictions, such as U.S, Dubai and Europe.

Can I Buy Bitcoin through Fidelity?

Fidelity were late to the Bitcoin space, but in fall 2022 they announced customers would soon be able to trade both BTC and Ether. While they offer ‘fee free’ trading, the profit is made in the spread. So, it’s not really free at all. Fidelity’s customers won’t be able to send or receive crypto coins from their accounts, so if you want to use Bitcoin for payments payments or to access blockchain-based services on the web you’ll have to look elsewhere. You will be able to sell crypto for fiat money, though. We’ll update this section as we get more information about Fidelity’s service.

Is it smart to buy Bitcoin through Revolut?

Revolut is a new entrant to the crypto scene. The neobank has launched the offering to its customers to try and compete with the beginner platforms that are out there. However, compared to crypto-dedicated platforms, exchanges, and brokers, buying Bitcoin on Revolut isn’t the most cost-effective method. But why? They charge a 1.99% on all transactions, which adds up.

Another huge downside is you’re not allowed to send any crypto bought on Revolut outside of their platform… unless you subscribe to their Metal plan. And this isn’t cheap. If you’re a newcomer to crypto and want to get your hands on some Bitcoin, there better (and much cheaper) ways than using Revolut in our opinion.

Can I buy Bitcoin anonymously?

BTC, contrary to popular belief is actually very safe and secure. All transactions are stored on a global ledger made up of sealed blocks. Hence, blockchain. For genuine anonymity there are privacy-focused networks and coins such as Monero (XLM) if keeping your activity hidden is your primary objective.

Can I Buy Bitcoin From PayPal?

Some countries’ version of PayPal (including the UK for example) allows you to purchase Bitcoin directly through the platform. You can actually select from a number of coins, which aside from BTC include Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Additionally, many exchanges have PayPal functionality where theoretically, you can buy Bitcoin using PayPal via that specific exchange since the payment service is a deposit method.

Which government has bought the most BTC?

El Salvador has been one of the most prominent cases of a nation adopting Bitcoin, with the government holding 550 BTC, equivalent to about $26 million. Between September 2021 and January 2022, the government spent approximately $85.5 million on Bitcoin purchases.

However, information about the exact quantities of BTC held by other nation-states or governments is not readily available. While some countries like Japan, the United States, South Korea, India, and Singapore have a high number of crypto users, this does not necessarily translate to government-held BTC.

Who created Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was ostensibly created by Satoshi Nakomoto. The anonymous pioneer is rumored to actually be a group of individuals in the United States, or another individual of a different name. However, none such rumors have yet proved accurate. If Crypto Lists finds out who it really is, you’ll be the first to know!

Is it a good time to buy Bitcoin?

This depends on a variety of factors including macroeconomic and geopolitical situations. The price of Bitcoin dictates the entitre crypto market, and this doesn’t seem set to change any time soon. However, some argue that it’s only a matter of time before Ethereum takes its place at the top of the tree. Bitcoin Maximalists – people who believe that Bitcoin is the only true crypto, or at least the only one that matters – would certainly argue the opposite.

Considering that the next large bull run is set to occur in 2024 after the halving event, 2023 is a great time to begin accumulating. However, this isn’t investment advice and simply the opinion of our editorial team.

What influences the price of Bitcoin?

As discussed above, the price of Bitcoin is both crypto specific but also affected very much so by external factors. Governmental legislation, wars, inflation, all these things factor into the price of Bitcoin. During a recession for example, casual investors have less spare cash. And as a result, less money to put into volatile assets such as cryptocurrencies. Also, bad news surrounding the crypto space can have a significant effect. An example from 2022 would be the collapse and drama surrounding the FTX exchange.

Is buying Bitcoin halal or haram as an investment?

Is Bitcoin acceptable in Islamic law? It’s a question we see often, and if you look online you’ll find a wide range of divergent opinions. Since it uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism, it doesn’t accumulate interest. So in that regard, you could indeed say Bitcoin is halal (acceptable). However, since many people look on the crypto market as overly volatile and somewhat similar to gambling, some Islamic experts say buying and trading Bitcoin is haram (unacceptable). We recommend talking to your local Imam or a trusted Islamic scholar on the matter if you’re unsure.

Can I buy Bitcoin using an app?

Yes indeed. Many of the top exchanges and platforms have an application for mobiles. And, with sites like Revolut and Paypal also opening crypto sections, these kinds of options are growing all the time. Most of the major exchanges that appeal to new crypto investors like Coinbase and Binance have apps that are in fact among the most downloaded applications in the finance space.

Should I buy all at once or buy a bit every week/month?

Many investors like to wait for the ‘bottom’, or the cheapest price before putting their money in. While this is obviously a good plan, predicting the market so accurately is almost impossible. Therefore, lots of people prefer to just put a bit of fiat in each week or month that they can afford to lose. This spreads their cost more evenly, but also means potential gains are less. Putting a small amount (relative to each person) into crypto on a regular basis – independent of price – is known as Dollar Cost Averaging, or DCA for short. Many people choose a Monday since traditionally markets are low after the weekend. But this is totally up to you, and we recommend that you do your own research.

How quickly can I purchase Bitcoin?

It can range from seconds to minutes, depending on which site and deposit method you use – and where you live. Since Crypto Lists is using geotargeting, you will always see relevant sites where you can buy Bitcoin from the comfort of your own home. Sites that are not allowed in a certain region will be blurred out from the toplists.