Highlights
Here is how a young Emirati crypto trader made money using cryptocurrencies. The ups and downs of trading cryptocurrencies need not be intimidating. Here are tips for the newbies out there.
Dubai: Gulf News spoke to a young and experienced Emirati crypto currency trader to understand what it has been like for him trading in crypto currencies and what tips he had to offer fresh investors.
Omar Darwish Al Zarooni, a 34-year-old with nearly half a decade of experience trading in crypto coins walks us through his first-hand experience on how he took the plunge into the cryptocurrency world and made profits. As Omar describes the ups and downs of trading in crypto coins, he also reassures with tips for those nervous to take the first step.
Omar, a person who likes to try anything new and takes apt amount of risks in life, started trading in the currency after he “saw a big potential” at the beginning of his journey he hasn’t stopped trading since then.
Following is the detailed account of the interview.
What has been your experience like trading in crypto and what tip do you offer newbies?
“I have been trading now for more than four or about five years and it has been a profitable journey for me,” said Omar. “If you understand the market, you can easily get a winning margin every day. And because the market is open 24 hours, whenever you have free time you can trade.”
If you understand the market, you can easily get a winning margin every day.
What currency do you trade in? And have you tried trading in other currencies?
“I have traded in most of the coins,” Omar said, while listing out some of them being Bitcoin, Ethereum, BitCash, Bitcoin SV, Litecoin, Chainlink and Monero. “I keep changing and I do not have any particular coin. If any coin has the potential to grow, I’ll buy that coin. I don’t stay invested in a coin for more than a week.”
What advice would you offer new investors out there who may be a bit nervous about investing in crypto?
“If people want to invest for the short-term (seeking gains in 1-3 days), you need to always look at the market. For long term, what I suggest is keep buying only Bitcoin monthly – keep buying, buying and buying and hold onto it. Forget about it for the next 2-3 years.”
(There are currently around 18 million bitcoins in existence that are currently being traded. The maximum and total amount of bitcoins that can ever exist is 21 million.)
“Once the supply is used up there will be no more Bitcoins available – so whatever Bitcoin people have, that’s all what people will ever be able to trade on. So you can imagine how much the price will go up once it reaches the maximum level.”
If people invest seeking gains in 1-3 days, you need to always look at the market. For long term, what I suggest is keep buying only Bitcoin monthly. Forget about it for the next 2-3 years
How simple or hard did you find trading at first when you started and how often do you trade?
“Before it was this one website called localbitcoins.com, where you buy it directly from other people without the use of a middleman or a website. It used to depend on whether you find someone to buy or sell. You could not find a lot of people buying or selling bitcoin in the UAE itself, but in other countries you could find easily. Now it has become so much easier to buy it from other websites, not only localbitcoins.com, but others like Bitmax, Binance and many other types of website options.”
Do you prefer trading on local exchanges or abroad?
“For Bitcoins I trade in local markets. If you want to buy Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies, it maybe makes up like 1 per cent in local markets. So I buy it from other websites like Bitstamp.”
Do you face the risk of hidden charges when you trade in crypto?
“Each platform has its own charges. If you compare with platforms abroad, it is much cheaper, the local exchange in terms of fees/charges. Like for example for buying and selling there are charges. The difficulty is sometimes when you sell Bitcoin from platform to platform that costs extra.”
For Bitcoins I trade in local markets. I buy Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies from websites like Bitstamp. Each platform has its own charges. If you compare with platforms abroad, the local exchange is much cheaper in terms of fees/charges.
What advice do you offer people on a budget?
“In local markets, you can buy Bitcoins with even Dh1,000 and anybody can afford that every month. So usually I suggest to my friends if they have low budget is keep buying Bitcoin every month for Dh1,000.”
Is there crypto research, like equity research available in the public domain? Are there resources from where these can be accessed?
“One of the main websites that calculates and posts the average of all the coins is Coinmarketcap.com. You can find a lot of news about a lot of new cryptocurrencies, study the graphs and what exchange they trade in. For some cryptocurrencies, they have particular exchange markets that they trade in - not all of them will trade the same coin.
If you have a low budget I suggest keep buying Bitcoin every month for Dh1,000.
So you need to have multiple accounts in different exchanges if you want to trade in a lot of different the currencies. Each market has its own price, so coinmarketcap.com gives you the average and tracks what price each exchange is trading the coin at.”
