Order types, custody, and the first-trade decisions that determine whether spot trading feels safe or reckless — before you ever touch leverage.
Draft status: needs a compliance pass before publish — see the checklist below.
What it is
Spot trading means buying or selling a cryptocurrency for immediate delivery at the current market price — you own the asset outright, with no leverage and no expiry date. It’s the foundation every other track on this site builds on: you can’t reason about a futures contract’s liquidation price if you don’t already understand what an order book and a market order are.
The decisions that actually matter
- Market vs. limit orders. A market order fills immediately at whatever the current price is. A limit order only fills at your specified price or better — it can sit unfilled, but it protects you from paying more than you intended during a fast-moving market.
- Custody: exchange wallet vs. self-custody. Leaving coins on an exchange is convenient but means you’re trusting that exchange’s security and solvency. Moving coins to a wallet you control removes that counterparty risk but adds the responsibility of not losing your own keys. Neither choice is “correct” — it’s a tradeoff based on how much you’re holding and how often you trade.
- KYC (Know Your Customer). Every major regulated exchange will require identity verification before you can deposit fiat or withdraw past a small threshold. This isn’t optional or exchange-specific — it’s a regulatory requirement across virtually every jurisdiction with licensed exchanges.
A first-trade walkthrough
- Fund your account — bank transfer, card, or a fiat on-ramp partner, depending on the exchange and your region.
- Search for the trading pair (e.g. BTC/USD or BTC/USDT) — note that “USD” pairs and “USDT” (a stablecoin) pairs are not the same thing and can have different liquidity and fees.
- Choose market or limit. For a first trade, a limit order set close to the current price is a reasonable way to get comfortable with the interface without the anxiety of a market order slipping in a volatile moment.
- Confirm the order and check the confirmation against what you expected — fees, quantity, and total should all match before you get comfortable trading larger size.
- Decide on custody — leave it on the exchange for now, or move it to a wallet, based on how you answered the custody tradeoff above.
Risk
Cryptocurrency prices are volatile even without leverage — a large single-asset spot position can still lose a significant percentage of its value quickly. Nothing on this page is financial advice.
What’s next
Once order types and custody feel comfortable, Margin Trading Explained and Position Sizing are the next two guides worth reading before you touch any leverage.
Editorial checklist before publish: compliance sign-off on custody/KYC language · confirm this reads correctly for a true first-time reader (get outside review, not just internal).