Investing for beginners

I must admit, I’ve also dreamed of getting rich quick with cryptocurrencies. But I never really dared to take the plunge. Because as my grandmother always said: child, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But somehow there seems more to it than that. So I asked Alain Greter, Brand Marketing Manager at Yuh, how I could get to grips with this crypto world without getting my fingers burnt.






Step 1: Start small

If you don’t try anything, you can’t learn anything. That’s why I just started. However, I only invested a small amount so that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I lost it, even if it would make me swear like a sailor. The big advantage of cryptocurrencies is that you can also just buy a fraction of a currency unit. I’ve realised that even the smallest investment budgets, like 100 francs, are enough to get an idea of how the whole thing works. At the same time, you quickly know what type of investor you are. Do you get nervous when the price falls and you lose money? Do you get greedy when the curve starts to rise? These are all important lessons to learn if you want to invest larger sums in the future. And I’m still not quite sure which category I fall into.

Step 2: Educate yourself

There’s no getting around having to read up on the cryptocurrencies you want to invest in. However, you should always also look online and read the white papers of the different cryptos. One of the most important distinctions made in this area is the division into coins and tokens. Coins are alternatives to physical currencies such as the Swiss franc or the euro. Tokens, on the other hand, get you access to digital services, for example. How a cryptocurrency has performed historically is interesting but shouldn’t be the sole criterion for making decisions. Because past performance is no guarantee that things will be the same in the future, as Alain explained to me.

With Yuh, you can learn about the
different cryptocurrencies directly in the app.
>>>find out more<<<

Step 3: Find a platform

It’s not enough just to want to invest. You also have to know where you can do it. I found a lot of crypto exchanges online, such as Uniswap, Coinbase or Binance. These seem very popular with crypto experts, as they have broken away from the traditional financial world in many ways. While the basic idea makes the anarchist heart in me beat faster, this independence also comes at a price. If a crypto exchange goes bankrupt, my money’s gone too. The picture is different with platforms like Swissquote or Yuh, says Alain. They are affiliated to a Swiss bank and so are regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma). There’s a lot of fraud in the crypto sector. That makes it even more important to choose a trustworthy partner. Alain also said that my grandma was right: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Another important factor in the decision is the fees. Every transaction costs money. Often you pay a fixed minimum amount. For small investments in particular, this isn’t worth it.

Yuh works differently. Instead of a minimum fee,
you pay a small percentage of the amount you invest. This stops small investors getting penalised.
>>>find out more<<<

Step 4: Deposit your money and get started

Once you decide on a platform, you need to open an account on it and deposit money, which you can then invest in cryptocurrencies. The same rule applies here: only invest funds that you could afford to lose in a worst-case scenario. Unlike the regular stock exchange, the crypto market is open around the clock. Most buying and selling takes place at the weekend. However, this doesn’t mean that this is actually the best time for transactions. What you need to know here is that depending on what’s happening in the world and on the market, it may be worth making a move immediately or waiting a bit longer. I’m off to study the Financial Times.

Step 5: Define your goal

So, you’ve followed all the steps and are now a proud cryptocurrency owner like me? Congratulations. Well done. And now what? Track the price? Sell your cryptos and switch to a different currency? Alain told me that it’ s really important to have a goal. This could, for example, be to get back your original investment. So if 100 francs have turned into 200 francs, for example, you could sell your original 100, take the money and just keep the 100 francs you gained invested. I’m more into not moving my money for the next ten years, and then I’ll see if I can use the profit to buy a villa bigger than Elon Musk’s. Whether you actively manage your investment or just watch it quietly, it’s important to have a plan. If you don’t, you risk acting emotionally and making the ultimate beginner’s mistake: selling your cryptos when the price falls and investing in cryptocurrencies that are on the rise instead.

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