A step-by-step guide to buying Bitcoin

Is there a minimum amount of Bitcoin I have to buy?

No. You don’t need to buy a whole Bitcoin, but you can buy tiny fractions of it. At Bitpanda, the minimum amount for deposits, for example, is €25. And the minimum amount to buy and sell Bitcoin is €1. So we can debunk the myth that you need a lot of money to start investing! There are a lot of other popular misconceptions around investing. So why not read our previous article where we debunk all the most popular Bitcoin myths.

How much should I invest in Bitcoin?

This is entirely dependent on you and your financial circumstances. Some investors like to deposit a one off lump sum amount when they believe it’s a good time to invest, and some choose to create a savings plan and deposit smaller amounts every month in the hope that they will benefit from something called the “cost averaging effect.”

Bitcoin is an investment, so you should have a look at your personal finances and add Bitcoin purchases to your budget. You can always start small with a minimum investment of €25 per month and go up from there once you’ve gained confidence (this is obviously not financial advice and depends a lot on your personal situation and risk preference). Either way, you should always only invest what you can afford to possibly lose.

Now that we got those two basic questions covered, how exactly do you buy Bitcoin?

Step one: Create an account and verify on Bitpanda

Before you can start investing, you must register and verify yourself in order to comply with our legal requirements. It only takes a couple of minutes of your time, but is absolutely necessary and, unfortunately, cannot be skipped.

At Bitpanda, we require a form of identification, such as a passport or drivers licence, you can check which document we accept for each country we operate in advance on our Helpdesk.

Note that you’ll have to undergo a video identification process with one of our trusted providers. Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it sounds, and this procedure actually helps make Bitpanda a safe space to trade. For a more in-depth verification tutorial, visit this Helpdesk article.

Step two: Deposit money on Bitpanda

The money to buy Bitcoin has to come from somewhere, right? That’s why you need to deposit money from your bank account into your Bitpanda account so you can buy cryptocurrencies at any time. To do that, we offer a variety of payment options, like (completely free) SEPA bank transfers and also credit cards or various payment service providers like Neteller. With the latter options, you can have euro or any other available currency you choose in your Bitpanda account instantly, but you have to pay a small payment fee. You can find a handy overview of all payment options available on Bitpanda here.

Imagine if you realise that Bitcoin is entering a bull run and you want to buy some Bitcoin before the price skyrockets. If you have no money in your Bitpanda fiat wallet, you have to make a bank transfer and possibly wait two to three days before the fiat money finally hits your Bitpanda account. By then, you may think the price to be too high and it could be too late to buy! That’s why it’s always a good idea to have funds in your wallet, simply click “Deposit now” to do so and transfer a minimum of €25.

Step three: Buy Bitcoin (or any other asset you like)

So we’ve arrived at our destination: Buying Bitcoin. Here’s how you do it.

You’ve logged into your Bitpanda account in your browser and at the top of your dashboard you’ll see a slide of all the assets you can choose from, it will look something like this:

Click on the asset you want to buy, in this case, Bitcoin. This will take you to the Bitcoin price page that tells you the current value of Bitcoin. If you look to the bottom right, you’ll see three buttons: Buy, Swap and Savings. Click “Buy” and choose the wallet you would like to pay from and select the amount or the value of Bitcoin you would like to buy. For example, we are going to buy €1 of Bitcoin.

Once you’ve entered the amount, click “Go to summary”. This is where you’ll see the confirmation of the amount you’d like to spend, take a good look and make sure there are no mistakes (such as accidentally putting €100 instead of €1.00!) The summary will look like this:

Click “Buy now”. And then guess what? You are now the proud owner of some Bitcoin! Congratulations!

And that’s it! It only takes three simple steps in order to buy your first Bitcoin. Simpler than you thought, right?

If you have any other questions regarding buying cryptocurrencies on Bitpanda, then have a look at this informative article on our Helpdesk and feel free to reach out to our amazing support team!

So, ready to buy some Bitcoin?
Head over to Bitpanda to start trading Bitcoin and over 50 other digital assets!