CryptoStart with understanding.
Six lessons. About 45 minutes plus practice. Build a research process before risking money.
By CryptoTrades editorial team · Sources reviewed October 25, 2026 · General education, not personalized investment advice.
Understand what you are buying
You will learn to: Separate an asset, a network, and a trading platform.
Crypto assets use blockchain or similar distributed-ledger systems to record issuance or transfers. Their designs and rights differ. A token name alone does not tell you what the holder owns, what the token does, or what risks apply.
Keep three questions separate: What does the asset represent? How does its network operate? Who operates the service where you buy or hold it? An exchange listing does not answer all three. Research the issuer or project documentation, supply rules, and whether you can transfer the asset outside the platform.
Your first task is explanation, not prediction. Write down what creates demand, what could reduce demand, and what information is missing. Treat a price forecast as someone’s assumption, not a fact. You can complete this course without buying anything.
Check your understanding
Does a familiar token name establish the rights attached to it?
Show lesson 1 answer and explanation
No. Designs and rights differ. Check the asset documentation and the exact product you are offered.
Sources and further reading
Understand custody and spot scams
You will learn to: Explain who controls access and recognize pressure tactics.
A wallet manages the keys used to access crypto assets; the assets are recorded on the network. With self-custody, you take responsibility for keys and recovery. With third-party custody, you rely on another organization’s controls and terms. Neither choice removes risk.
Before moving assets, determine who controls the keys, how account recovery works, and what happens if the provider fails. Never paste a recovery phrase into a support chat or a course exercise. Confirm the destination network and address using the provider’s instructions; compatible-looking names are not enough.
Promised high returns with little risk, urgency, and spectacular account screenshots are reasons to pause. Testimonials and followers do not establish investment competence. Open the provider’s official website yourself and check claims independently before sending money or sharing credentials.
Check your understanding
A mentor promises a guaranteed high return and asks for your recovery phrase. What should you do?
Show lesson 2 answer and explanation
Stop. Do not share the phrase or transfer funds. Guaranteed high-return promises are a fraud warning; access secrets are not evidence of eligibility.
Sources and further reading
Compare the exact exchange product
You will learn to: Use a review without confusing a score with a guarantee.
Start with eligibility: your country or state, the operating entity, and the asset or pair you intend to use. A provider may offer one product where another is unavailable. Simple-buy services and advanced order-book interfaces can also have different prices.
Our review score covers three documentation criteria: fee transparency, order explanations, and eligibility information. Each contributes at most two points. The score does not assess solvency, support response, execution quality, or whether a product suits you.
Open the sources behind a review and record the date, product, pair, and account tier. If a rate requires sign-in, leave the number unknown until you verify it. Comparing an unknown rate as zero produces a misleading result. A high documentation score is a reason to investigate, not a reason to deposit.
Check your understanding
Is a 6/6 documentation score proof that an exchange is safe?
Show lesson 3 answer and explanation
No. It only describes the cited documentation under our rubric. Safety, solvency, execution, and support are not rated.
Sources and further reading
Learn price control and execution
You will learn to: Distinguish market, limit, maker, and taker.
A market order seeks execution against available orders. The final price can differ from the displayed price, especially when the order is large relative to available liquidity. It prioritizes execution over a specified price.
A buy limit sets the highest acceptable price; a sell limit sets the lowest. A limit protects that price boundary but may fill partially or not at all. A limit order that immediately matches an existing order can still be a taker order. Post-only instructions have platform-specific behavior.
Maker and taker describe liquidity roles, not simply the labels on the order buttons. A partially immediate fill can have a taker portion and a resting maker portion. Read the order preview and the specific platform’s rules before relying on a fee assumption.
Check your understanding
Does every limit order qualify for a maker fee?
Show lesson 4 answer and explanation
No. If it immediately matches available liquidity, that portion can incur a taker fee.
Sources and further reading
Calculate costs before a trade
You will learn to: Separate percentage fees from the rest of the transaction.
For a percentage trading fee, multiply the executed value by the rate divided by 100. A fictional $1,000 purchase at 0.2% costs $2 in trading fees. A later $1,100 sale at the same rate costs $2.20. The price gain is $100; after these two fees it is $95.80, before any other costs or taxes.
Add funding and withdrawal charges separately. Spread is the gap between buying and selling quotes; slippage is the difference between expected and actual execution. Neither is automatically captured by a calculator that only accepts percentage fees.
Use the same trade size, pair, and execution role when comparing providers. Check the fee tier that actually applies rather than the lowest advertised tier. Do not increase trading activity or deposited assets solely to unlock a cheaper tier.
Check your understanding
At 0.2%, is the exit fee on a $1,100 sale also $2?
Show lesson 5 answer and explanation
No. $1,100 × 0.002 = $2.20. Entry and exit fees use their own executed values.
Sources and further reading
Build a paper-only decision plan
You will learn to: Turn assumptions into a scenario and identify its limits.
Start with a hypothetical loss budget, entry price, and stop assumption. For a long position entered at $100 with a stop at $95, the modeled price risk is $5 per unit. A $50 hypothetical risk budget gives 10 units before fees and execution effects. This arithmetic is not a recommended allocation.
A stop is not insurance. Fast price moves and limited liquidity can make losses larger than the planned amount; stop-limit orders may fail to fill. A calculator cannot verify your finances, predict a future price, or guarantee execution. Keep this exercise unleveraged and on paper.
Write a reason for considering the asset, evidence that would change your mind, total costs, custody assumptions, and the questions still unanswered. Compare a favorable, unchanged, and adverse price scenario. Finish with an explicit option to take no trade. A course completion checklist is a learning record, not a trading qualification.
Check your understanding
Does the calculated position size guarantee your maximum loss?
Show lesson 6 answer and explanation
No. It assumes the modeled entry and exit prices. Fees, gaps, slippage, or failed execution can increase losses.