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www.etoro.com *
*67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection.
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How to buy
For those who live in Philippines, the best way to buy Polkadot is, definitely, this popular broker.
eToro*, one of the main brokers around the world, is registered and licensed, among others, by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, and therefore complies with all the regulations of the European Union, the most demanding in the world.
We recommend eToro because you can create an account for free with this broker, and its fees for trading online are very low. Besides, eToro is available in our language, accepts users from Philippines, it is really easy to manage, and its friendly interface is ideal for those who are starting to trade with cryptocurrencies and stocks.
How to sign up, step by step
The first thing you need to do is click here and fill in the fields on the right: enter your name, email, and set a password.
Then check your email: you have received an email from eToro, click on the button and your account will be verified.
Once on eToro, you just have to click on “Deposit funds”, in the page menu.
There, you can choose how much money you want to add to your account (the minimum is $ 200) and the payment method:
As you can see in the image, the first deposit can be made by credit card, PayPal, or bank transfer.
If you have a choice, we do not recommend bank transfer because it takes longer, and it can be very frustrating to see the price of Polkadot rising while you wait for your transfer to be done.
How to make your first purchase
As soon as eToro has confirmed the receipt of your credit, you just have to search for “Polkadot” in the search bar, click on “Invest” and choose the amount in dollars you want to invest.
*67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money
Cryptoassets are highly volatile unregulated investment products. No EU investor protection. Your capital is at risk.
Contents
What is Polkadot?
Polkadot is a platform developed by Gavin Wood (co-founder of Ethereum) whose purpose is to allow the transfer of information between different blockchains and solve the scalability problems of these, which also has its own token: the DOT.
Each blockchain, along with its ecosystem, is a totally isolated entity from the rest, so they cannot communicate with each other. Thus, although we can exchange Bitcoin for Ethereum and vice versa, we cannot transfer data from one network to the other.
Added to this are the limitations of each network which, with the progressive increase in their use, end up congested and increasingly slower. In the case of Bitcoin, the network can only process on average 3 transactions per second, which is a very low limit.
On the other hand, Ethereum has even processed 19 transactions per second which may fall short given the large number of decentralized applications operating over the Ethereum network.
These limitations make it highly unlikely that these two cryptocurrencies (and the vast majority) will become a mainstream payment method. To understand this, let's compare with traditional means of payment such as Visa.
According to its official website, Visa can process 65 thousand transactions per second in 160 different currencies, although supposedly on average it only processes a maximum of 20 thousand transactions per second. Whatever the figure, the difference is abysmal.
Add to this the ability of the Visa platform to connect to other platforms such as Paypal, in addition to any bank's own platforms. Knowing the magnitude of the problem, we can now understand more clearly the breakthrough that Polkadot represents for the crypto world.
How much is the difference between Polkadot and other cryptocurrency networks?
Polkadot's complex infrastructure seeks to solve the problems described with a multi-chain platform where different blockchains can be connected, that's right, it connects Bitcoin with Ethereum and many others.
In addition, the platform allows individual chains to exchange information with each other also making it possible to process multiple transactions in parallel which greatly increases the amount of processing.
According to tests conducted in 2020, Polkadot is capable of processing more than 1,000 transactions per second. Although this amount is still far from what Visa processes, the best thing is that this amount can be increased very easily as the number of users and transactions grows.
But like all of them, it works with its own token, the DOT, which is used to pay fees for each transaction made using the Polkadot network. Therefore, as the use of Polkadot is expected to increase, the price of its token, the DOT, is also expected to grow steadily over time.
Assets available in this broker
Besides criptocurrencies, there are other financial assets available in eToro.
Commodity market
The major attraction of investing in commodities is that prices are more stable than those of other assets. In fact, their stability is what makes most people choose raw materials when facing possible inflation or market volatility. However, the cost of raw materials is determined by supply and demand, so if faced with the fear of inflation, demand rises a lot, so will the price.
Note that commodities don't pay dividends. Therefore, the only prospective income would come from a future sale of the asset.
Raw materials are generally categorized into two types: first, we have hard raw materials, which are precious metals (gold, silver, copper, and platinum), industrial metals, and oil; in second place are soft raw materials, which are agricultural goods like coffee, rice, soy, or sugar.
Forex trading
What is known as Forex trading consists in the exchange of currencies. It's the conversion between two currencies, and the aim is, evidently, to make a profit out of this.
If you decide to exchange euros and dollars, for example, you buy euros at their price in dollars, thinking that after buying the first currency (the euro) it will revalue compared to the second (the dollar), to make a profit by selling it. Suppose you entered when a euro is worth 1.10 USD and you exit when it reaches 1.15: that difference is yours once you make the operation.
As you may have deduced, this kind of trading usually implies a large capital, because prices never increase that much, or using a lot of leverage, which you know is a risk. Our advice for those starting in the world of trading is to choose another market to begin with, since Forex is not the safest.
You can trade with almost every currency on eToro but take into account that in this market sales are always made through CFDs, so you will not be the owner of the real asset.
Stocks
The most well-known financial instruments are stocks or shares: these are portions of publicly traded enterprises. It is possible to obtain a profit with the performance of third-party companies just by putting your money in them. But, obviously, you have to know how to invest.
We could say that there are two basic kinds of shares: those of companies that distribute their earnings among the shareholders and those that don't pay regularly. Does that mean that you should only consider the former? No, of course not: if a company does not pay every year but has a lot of potential, you should not discard that alternative, since selling the shares eventually could pay much more.
If you invest in stocks that payout, you will receive the funds into your eToro account, and you can withdraw them or invest back. However, compound interest is magic, so our suggestion is that you reinvest if you don't need the money immediately.
If you invest in stocks on eToro, you will be able to use leverage. However, we don't recommend that, since it would be a CFD and you would not get dividends. Also, shares are regularly long-term investments, and you have to pay fees as long as your position is open.
How to deposit funds into your eToro account
When it comes to payment on eToro, there isn't really much to say, since it is pretty simple. You only need to select “Deposit funds”, type an amount, and choose the payment option you prefer. You can pay with PayPal (available for some countries), bank transfer, credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Diners, Visa Electron and Maestro), Skrill, or Neteller.
(Keep into consideration that you must be the account or credit card owner, for security reasons).
You can start from $ 200, and there is a limited maximum for unverified accounts. So, if your intention is to deposit larger sums, you will need to verify your account previously.
The platform allows transfers in any currency, but charges a fee for making the conversion to USD. That is why we recommend, if it is in your hands, depositing in USD from the beginning.
eToro Interface
We said previously that eToro is very friendly and intuitive. Anyone can start using it without having to read endless explanations.
If you have used before any of the most common social networks, you can perfectly use eToro's interface.
Now we are going to walk you through the registration process and the sections of the eToro interface that you should know.
First of all, you will have to enter your personal data, like first name, last name, address….
To complete your profile, you will have to answer some questions about your experience as an investor.
But don't worry: it's not about passing an exam. They only intend to know how much knowledge you have and what type of financial instruments they can recommend. For example, if it is your first experience in the investment world, they will not suggest that you invest in futures.
Let's review the different tabs of the platform.
With the “Set Price Alerts” tool, you'll be able to program an alert when an asset is at a certain price. Just click the tab and you will be able to set it. This is helpful in case you want to purchase an asset that is falling but you believe it will decrease even more.
“News Feed” is for social purposes. This is the section where users can share opinions and information.
“Instruments”, “People” and “CopyPortfolios” are within “Discover”. As we mentioned before, the trading instruments that eToro offers are:
- cryptocurrencies
- Exchange-Traded Funds
- Shares
- Raw materials
- Forex
- Index funds
The term “social trading” makes sense in the section “People”: that is where you can duplicate the movements of the investors you find most inspiring. You'll be able to see all their profiles and performances.
Through the search engine, you can find the investors that you find more interesting: by risk level, types of financial assets, average earnings… Just indicate the amount of your investment and eToro will replicate the movements made by the selected investor, in proportion. “In proportion” means that if you have $ 1000 and the trader puts 10% of his or her balance in an asset, the platform will invest also 10% of your money (that is, $ 100) in that same asset.
Also, here you will see CopyPortfolios classified into three categories, Top Trader, Market, and Partner.
In some cases, you might prefer copying to CopyPortfolios than to other traders, because you avoid putting all your eggs in one basket. There are all kinds of portfolios that you can recognize easily and are divided by sectors. Thus, in case you suspect a specific sector, such as gaming or drones, will prosper in the future, you can look for that specific portfolio and do your investment.
“Social trading”, an innovative concept
eToro was the first platform that proposed social trading, and this new concept turned out to be brilliant. Many other brokers copied this idea, but eToro is still the best.
But it wasn't just about creating yet another social network to talk about investment. The real achievement was in allowing users to replicate the moves of advanced investors, and to reward the latter for their ideas and knowledge.
In the left menu of the site, you will see “Copy People” and “Invest in CopyPortfolios”.
CopyPortfolios
“CopyPortfolios” contain a collection of financial assets of the same sector. For example, if you anticipate that a particular sector will succeed in the near future but you are not sure which investments to make, you just have to select a portfolio that groups together a variety of related companies in that industry.
You should know that in the last year, CopyPortfolio has given returns of 100%. And you can benefit from it just by choosing a portfolio, enter your selected amount, place the stop-loss and click on the “Invest” button.
Copy People
A second option is to directly copy traders of the platform: in “Copy People” you can find eToro users who are very successful investing and whose strategies you can replicate.
In the profile of each user, you will see their risk profile (how much risk do they take), their performance, and what type of instruments they operate..
Besides copying other user's strategies, which is really interesting and helpful, we also recommend that you benefit from the community by reading other user's comments. You can learn a lot from their experiences and knowledge, particularly if your goal is to make a living from investments.
Investment strategies
There are different methods or ways for crypto trading, such as day trading or buying and holding, for naming just a couple.
My suggestion for those who are beginning to trade is going halfway between the two options: when you open your position, set a dynamic stop loss 15-20% below the highest price, and forget about the operation.
Therefore, if for example you acquire a cryptocurrency at $ 10, it reaches $ 20 and then decreases to $ 12, your stop loss will close your position at $ 16-17 and you will obtain a pretty good profit.
It may sound more appealing to sell when the cost is at its maximum, but unless you're a fortuneteller, that is not possible. The above strategy is much more realistic and, well applied, it can work very well for you.
Sooner or later, you will be prepared for using more advanced investment strategies, such as using leverage or going short.
Leverage: trading with borrowed money
Do you know what leverage is? Just in case, we'll put it simply: another good thing about trading is that it lets you invest higher amounts than what you really have. That is, if you have $ 100 and you use x2 leverage, the amount of your investment will be $ 200.
About leverage, Take Profit and Stop Loss
Let's say that you are confident that Polkadot will raise its price, and you want to “go long”, but you only have $ 1,000 available. However, it is possible to put more and earn higher profits.
You could consider requesting a credit at your bank or other financial company, but you must know that all the process takes time, and by the moment you finally get the money, Polkadot might be already so expensive that investing wouldn't be convenient anymore.
Using leverage, you can obtain that amount with two clicks. It's exactly like borrowing money, but much better: you will get it from eToro, which lets you invest a lot more than you have on the platform. You will simply see the different options as in the screenshot:
Within other markets, the ability to leverage is greater. The reason is that leverage is regularly for short-term operations or day trading, and cryptocurrencies tend to be a medium or long-term investment. But let's deepen a bit more on how all this works:
- If you decide to invest $ 1,000 and you use leverage x2, you will be starting with $ 2,000 (remember that$ 1,000 are a “loan” from eToro).
- Then, turns out that Polkadot does increases, as you thought, and now the price of your investment is $ 2,400 (20% more), so you decide to sell back.
- Once the $1,000 from leverage is deducted, you will have $ 1,400 left; which means you've earned $ 400, since the other $1,000 was yours from the beginning.
By starting with $ 1000 and getting $ 400, you'll be earning 40% of your investment. That is pretty good.
But watch out: if all goes as you intended and the asset increases, you will make profits. However, if the price falls, you will also lose more money than you invested.
For example: if instead of increasing by 20%, the price falls by 10%, you won't lose $ 10, but twice that figure, which means $ 20. For that reason, the concepts of Take Profit and Stop Loss are so important when operating with leverage.
Take Profit is a trading limit you can set for your assets: you program your operation and ask the platform to sell them once they get to a point above the entry price. For instance, you can buy Polkadot at $ 100 and ask eToro to close your position automatically when it goes up to $ 120. It is very useful to avoid being blinded by enthusiasm: a 20% profit is usually pretty good, but once you see the price has risen, you might consider you can make higher profits, which is not always the case. Consequently, you might lose money if you don't close on time. So, Take Profit helps you to trade more safely.
Also, if you use leverage you absolutely need to place a Stop Loss order (take into account that any small loss is greater with leverage). Take into account that eToro will recommend a limit for Stop Loss, but you should place it closer to current price than that.
How does a virtual portfolio work?
For those who still don't have much experience in investing, a demo account can be very helpful. Just assure yourself that the virtual mode is set and you can start operating with fictional funds.
This option is great for those who are new to this world and want to give it a few tries before trading with real funds. With your virtual portfolio, you will begin with a $ 100,000 balance (which of course, is fake) to do all the trades that you can think of: not only with Polkadot, you can also work with a diverse portfolio.
The first attempt is not usually that good. But you can ask support to deposit back the virtual $ 100k to your portfolio, and the second try you should do better.
However, keep in mind that trading is mainly about being prudent, and using a practice account can have the opposite effect. It is not the same to risk your own money than to operate with a false balance that you don't mind losing.
And of course, the demo mode is kind of absurd if you want to invest in the medium or long-term, since you would be wasting years. Demo accounts may be useful for practicing short or medium-term investments.
Frequently asked questions
* Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Disclaimer: 67% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.