Holly-Ellen Stockley - Crypto Made Clear: My Beginners Guide to Cryptocurrency and Trading

Copyright 2021 by Holly-Ellen Stockley. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisherexcept for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Strenuous attempts have been made to credit all copyrighted materials used in this book. All such materials and trademarks, which are referenced in this book, are the full property of their respective copyright owners. Every effort has been made to obtain copyright permission for material quoted in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

Cover image by: Yesna99, 99 Designs

Book design by: SWATT Books Ltd

Printed in the United Kingdom

First Printing, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-8384925-0-2 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-8384925-1-9 (eBook)

Holly-Ellen Stockley

Email:

Website: www.cryptocountess.com

nstagram: @cryptocountess

Table of Contents

Preface

Financial advice notice: Before you begin reading this book, I need to clearly state that my opinions are not financial advice. I am not a financial advisor, nor am I trained within the financial world. All thoughts and opinions are my own and all evidence has been put forward through my own research. It is up to you to conduct independent research before making any decisions to invest your money within cryptocurrency.

Never invest more than you are willing to lose and do not risk money you require to live, e.g. do NOT play with your mortgage or rent money!

Now, enjoy the journey!

T his book began life as a collection of my thoughts, findings, research notes and general information, all gathered from my journey into the cryptocurrency world.

I entered this world on a whim, without any knowledge of it at all. I just decided, one day in December 2019, after reading a news article, that I would buy some Bitcoin. I was nave, had done no research, had no idea what I was doing and didnt understand the market or industry at all. I literally googled where is the best place to buy Bitcoin, which brought up a list of websites I now know to be called exchanges. One of these websites was Coinbase Ill be explaining exchanges in more detail in Chapter 6. I decided that it looked like an easy to use and well-designed site, so I downloaded it, linked it to my bank account and invested 50.00. Whilst this might seem reckless, looking back it was the best, most random thing I have ever done.

I did nothing further I just watched the value of my investment go up and down. I remember telling a friend I had bought some Bitcoin and had made 10p. Her response was, Thats nice Holly, and then she changed the conversation. Even later, when I started doing well in my trades, my father told my Nana that Id been trading fake coins online. (Her reply was that she didnt know what that was but was proud of me anyway). Not a lot of people, I have found, especially in my circle of friends and family, know much if anything about the cryptocurrency world. Those that have heard of it think its a scam and the rest arent bothered. As I have progressed and learnt more my immediate family have been forced to listen to my findings, and my parents are now both involved in cryptocurrency as well.

Working as self-employed within the beauty and design industries since 2011, and as an Aesthetic Practitioner specialising in Semi-Permanent Make-Up since 2016, I was forced to look for alternative means of income when the UK went into a national lockdown in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Government restrictions prevented me from working and there was uncertainty on when, and how, measures would be lifted.

So, I decided to take cryptocurrency seriously and learn how trading the crypto market worked. However, I have never been good at maths and hated the subject at school. If I was in the education system now, Im sure that my teachers would diagnose me with dyscalculia, as my brain struggles to problem-solve and understand mathematical equations. Nevertheless, I set myself a task to learn it, to believe in myself and trust that I could do it.

The more I read and learnt about the subject the more I struggled to find books and articles that really explained and broke down the cryptocurrency world in simple terms for people who knew absolutely nothing about it. Everything I read expected you to know something about finance or some aspect of cryptocurrency or trading which, as a complete novice, I found confusing. So, I began googling and researching articles, absorbing as much information as I could and recording it for reference for when I started trading.

Over the second half of 2020 my trading in cryptocurrency enabled me to turn my life and bank balance around. Whilst not out of my financial tunnel yet I see some light. I feel confident, with improved self-worth and self-love. My belief, that cryptocurrency will continue to change my financial situation for the better, has led me to want to write this book.

I hope it provides key information and guidance to understanding the cryptocurrency world, to help others starting from scratch who have no experience and potentially the same lack of confidence with maths and figures.

Cryptocurrency has already begun to integrate itself into our 21st century world. I hope this book helps to show that when rules and patterns are followed in trading, risks can be minimised, losses reduced, and most importantly money made!

C ryptocurrency, or crypto for short, is a type of digital or virtual money. It has no physical counterpart such as a banknote or coin that can be carried around and it only exists in an electronic format.

Digital currency has been around for many years, its just that we dont think about it that way. your standard fiat funds, which is the currency of your country such as the Great British Pound (GBP) or United States Dollar (USD), are held in your bank account, which is then accessible from your online internet banking platform. For example, in the United Kingdom we have the Great British Pound. I have multiple bank accounts, as do many people, which hold funds for different things. If I want to move some GBP from one account to another bank account, I simply log onto my online banking and transfer it. It is something we dont even think about, as it is just part of our everyday life. But this is a form of digital currency.

Cryptocurrency, like digital fiat money, is a form of digital currency. I can send it and move it around online between different locations. I can pay in cryptocurrency on certain websites and I can also withdraw certain cryptocurrencies from designated crypto ATMs into GBP cash.

Cryptocurrency was initially created to address problems associated within our current financial and banking infrastructure with centralisation, security and confidentiality. Centralisation is the traditional method whereby there is a central supervisory authority responsible for decisions made within that organisation. This level of control and authority has led to multiple issues with asset management and control, which is a key part of why cryptocurrency was created. Cryptocurrency has many different uses and every crypto asset that has been, and is being created at present, tackles a different problem. They each have their own technologies and goals, covering a wide range of things such as online banking, faster payment processing, mortgages, loans, gaming, musician and artist royalties. You name a problem and there is probably a crypto asset out there being developed to solve it.