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How to invest in Bitcoin, Bitcoin CFDs, Bitcoin ETNs or Bitcoin Futures

Written by
Gergely K.
Fact checked by
Gyula L.
Updated
Jan 2024
How to invest in Bitcoin, Bitcoin CFDs, Bitcoin ETNs or Bitcoin Futures

Did you know crypto exchanges are not the only way to get cryptos? They might not even be the best for you. They can be expensive and unsecure. In this article, you will learn about crypto exchange alternatives and get introduced to established and regulated financial providers offering crypto investments.

At the end of the article, you will know how to invest in Bitcoin, Bitcoin CFD, Bitcoin ETN or Bitcoin Futures.

How do we know this? We analyse financial institutions and help people to find the best stockbrokers. We know the financial industry well. In 2018 readers asked us constantly about how to invest in Bitcoins and cryptos. We looked into it.

As cryptos are extra risky, here is an extra risk warning. Only invest money in cryptos you are prepared to fully lose. Their price fluctuates like crazy. If my mom asked about Bitcoin, I would tell her to stay away.

Still interested? Let’s get to it then. I reckon you want to buy Bitcoin from a cheap and safe source. Let’s break this down.

Buying Bitcoin means exchanging your Euros and Dollars to Bitcoin.

Cheap means depositing the money, doing the exchange and withdrawing your money doesn’t cost you a lot.

Safety is also important. When finance guys talk about safety they mean:

  • The service provider is not a fraud, because it is
    • regulated, meaning they proved their capability to authorities.
    • transparent, providing financial data, ownership, etc. to the public
  • The service provider can operate because it has good
    • risk management, they are prepared to deliver when things go south
    • operations, e.g. accessing the interface works
    • IT security, from external attacks
  • Investors are compensated by the state if the service provider defaults. You will not get compensated if your investment price drops. You will get compensated if your broker was a fraud or it defaulted. This is the so-called investor protection.

It turns out, crypto exchanges are neither cheap nor safe. So, what are the alternatives? Three other ways how to invest in Bitcoins, not known by many

  1. Going long in a Bitcoin CFDs, an abbreviation for Contract for Differences
  2. Investing in passive funds, namely ETNs covering Bitcoins
  3. Going long on Bitcoin Futures

We will be fair with crypto exchanges and give them a run for their money. To be fair, the alternatives are not perfect either. What should you do? As a first step, understand the differences. 

How to Invest in Bitcoins on Bitcoin Exchanges

This is how most people invest in Bitcoins. As you probably know, Bitcoin is a digital currency, transacted through a distributed ledger. You can store and transact Bitcoins with a Bitcoin wallet. This is the revolution everybody is talking about, the blockchain magic. The thing is, if you do not have Bitcoins yet, you can do nothing on the blockchain. You will need to buy Bitcoin first. And this is where Bitcoin exchanges come into the picture: they let you change your money to cryptos. This change does not happen “on the blockchain”. This is merely an exchange service provided by the crypto exchanges.

Bitcoin exchanges are the best to try out crypto and play around

Here is the good news. It is as easy as 1-2-3 to set up an account, deposit money, and trade on a Bitcoin exchange. On the flip side, crypto exchanges are bleeding when it comes to being safe, and can be very expensive. As such, we would encourage you to either use them for fun only or really wisely.

Opening a Bitcoin exchange account is easy

Brokerchooser is a stockbroker comparison site primarily. As such, we have not tested all of the Bitcoin exchanges. But, here are a few names for you to check:

(If you are into more exchanges, here's a near full cryptocurrency exchange list.)

Two well-known fintech companies also entered the crypto market as exchanges: Revolut and Robinhood.

  • Revolut is a European debit card startup where allowing converting money on interbank rate
  • Robinhood is a zero fee and commission stockbroker.

The account open steps are easy. You go to the exchange, sign up, validate your email address, take a picture of your ID and provide your credit card details or make a bank transfer. A good guide on how to do this on one of the biggest exchanges can be found here.

Crypto exchanges issue “I owe you” on your cryptos

How to buy bitcoin - exchange

At a crypto exchange, you do not really own Bitcoins. Surprised? Let me explain. When you invest in Bitcoin on a Bitcoin exchange you have an “I owe you” (IOU) from the exchange on your Bitcoins. You only truly own Bitcoin if you know your private key. You do not know the private key at an exchange and as a result you do not own Bitcoins, just the IOU.

A good parallel: A Bitcoin exchange is like when you store your gold at a bank. The Bitcoin exchanges issues a statement that you have the Bitcoin (like the bank issues a statement that you have the gold). Having Bitcoins in your Bitcoin wallet is like taking your gold home.

What to do? Transfer your Bitcoins from your exchange to a Bitcoin wallet if you do not want to change it back to money in the short term (ways to backup your wallet here). This enables you to access your Bitcoin address and private key. Once you have that, you really own it. 

How Bitcoin exchanges work and main parties

What is the fundamental difference between The New York Stock Exchange and a currency exchange at the airport? The answer is NYSE merely pairs buyers and sellers and does not trade. The airport exchange trades against the customers. Both are called exchanges though with a huge difference.

Let’s see Bitcoin exchanges. Are they like stock exchanges or like the airport exchange? Do they trade with you, or do they pair buyers and sellers? Well, here is the catch:

no one knows.

We think some, like Coindesk or Kraken trade with you. They have their own pile of money and crypto and they act like the airport exchanges. For others, it is almost impossible to know.

Why does this matter? If it is like a stock exchange, you will get the best price. If it is like the airport exchange, it is less sure.

Unfortunately, so far I could not figure out, if there is a major Bitcoin exchange which only pairs buyers and sellers. So, feel free to comment.

There is more to it. Bitcoin exchanges claim that all client funds (both money and crypto) are in separated accounts, and they do not do margin trade. Margin trade means if you buy Bitcoin at an exchange the exchange simply tells you they changed your money to Bitcoin, but in reality they changed only part of it. When only you want to withdraw your Bitcoin, it is fine, because the exchange has cryptos on an aggregate level. But if everyone wanted to withdraw, they would be in a problem. This is how banks work, and it is all fine with them. However, operating such a business needs good risk management and it is the best, if a regulator looks into it. Crypto exchanges claim they do not do margin trade. We are skeptical, as there is a huge financial benefit for a crypto exchange to do this, and regulators are not checking.

Fees, risks and how you are protected

How to buy bitcoin - Protection
Bitcoin exchanges are expensive. They have a huge incoming customer flow and they can charge extraordinary fees. You can end up paying 3-4% trading fees when buying Bitcoin with your credit card or 1.5% when receiving a bank transfer. Simply put, these fees are very high.

Bitcoin exchanges are also risky. Let’s say, you go to a bitcoin exchange, deposit €200, and you convert €100 to Bitcoin. So how are you exposed?

  • The bitcoin exchange is a fraud or defaults: All your Bitcoins are lost, as you do not have them in a wallet. You will most likely have the €100, as the better exchanges are regulated for handling money and fall under the investor protection scheme of the specific country. How to mitigate the risk on your Bitcoins? Transfer them to a wallet.
  • The market moves big time and freezes: Most likely the bitcoin exchange will not work technically. If you ever tried logging in when the price was moving, you know what I am talking about. If it works and if you are with broker which is like the airport exchange you are exposed to the liquidity of the exchange (e.g. will they have enough money if you want to sell your Bitcoin). There is no current regulation (or not that we know of) which regulates how a Bitcoin exchange should manage their liquidity.

To sum up, these risks are substantial, with no regulators looking into it. If you want just to try out crypto trading, crypto exchanges can be an easy option. If it is a larger investment, use a wallet.

How to Invest in Bitcoins by Betting Bitcoin CFDs

CFDs stand for contract for differences. This is basically a bet between you and a broker. If you want to bet on Bitcoin price going up, you open an account at a CFD broker and go long on the Bitcoin CFD. If Bitcoin price increases, you win against the broker.

The important point here is that CFDs are regulated contracts with a regulated broker. As such, if the broker defaults, you will get compensated up to a certain amount by the financial regulator.

Important note: CFDs are regulated in Europe, but not in the US and some other countries. Check with your regulator.

Bitcoin CFDs are great to trade Bitcoin

CFDs are risky. This is because CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investors, accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

This is the standard risk warning for CFDs. We agree they are very risky. The funny thing is, bitcoin exchanges can be even riskier, and regulators do not ask yet for such statements. We think CFDs are good for trading Bitcoins and other cryptos, at least, better than exchanges. You can long and short Bitcoin easily and can effectively bet on the price movement. CFD brokers are more established than crypto exchanges. Plus, you can be protected by the government from the Bitcoin CFD broker defaulting up to the investor protection amount. We say you "can be", because it depends on the country of the broker.

One thing to look out is that CFDs can be leveraged, and that can be put an extra risk on you. Also, do not use CFDs, if you would like to benefit from the crypto inherent features, e.g. staying anonymous. You will not own coins, just bet on the price movement.

CFDs are very widespread financial instruments in Europe for retail clients. There are CFDs on equities (e.g. Apple share), commodities (e.g. oil price), and a lot of other assets. CFDs are widespread in Europe, but it is banned in the US.  

Opening a Bitcoin CFD broker account is easy

To start with trading Bitcoin CFDs, you need a CFD broker providing cryptos. There are secure CFD brokers, meaning they are listed on a stock exchange, they report their financials transparently and they are overthought by financial regulators.

Opening an account with them is easy. You need to go through digital ID verification and fund your account. Bank transfers and credit card payments work.

A few CFD brokers offering crypto CFDs and we liked:

Crypto CFD brokers
  IC Markets XTB
Overall score 4.5 stars 4.8
Fees score 4.2 stars 4.3 stars
 

visit broker
74.32% of retail CFD accounts lose money

visit broker
81% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Needless to say that XTB and IC Markets are not the only brokers where you can trade with Bitcoin CFD's. Want to know more? IG and Plus500 are great too.

An important thing to do is to check the leverage level before you start to trade. Use max 1:2, but we would recommend to do it without leverage. It depends on the broker, whether you can set the leverage on the platform. If not, ask customer service.

Leverage at Bitcoin CFDs are highly risky, be careful

When you do a Bitcoin CFD at a CFD broker, you will not own Bitcoin, you just going to be in a bet about the Bitcoin price.

Let’s say you are long Bitcoin CFD. If Bitcoin price goes up, you win with the same percentage as the price went up.  if Bitcoin goes down you lose with the same percentage. This is easy to understand, now comes leverage. With Bitcoin CFDs you can invest in more Bitcoin than your money. You can e.g. trade with €100 on a two-time leverage, which is the same as you had €200 worth of Bitcoin. If the price goes up 1%, your investment will go up 2%. Be careful, this is true in the other direction too. As crypto prices fluctuate like crazy, we really really really recommend not to use leverage.

When investing in crypto CFDs you might pay a daily fee

If you are doing leverage you basically borrow from the CFD broker. They will charge you an overnight fee. You only pay this if you use leverage, so no leverage, no overnight fee. However, if there is a leverage you will get charged on the notional, in our previous case €100. The overnight fee can go up to 20%, so you would pay 20% / 365  for one-day holding. So, keep an eye on this.

How Bitcoin CFDs work and main parties

CFD brokers list the cryptos they provide CFDs on E.g. Bitcoin and Ether, but not Ripple.

They quote you a buy and a sell price. The difference is the spread they win, and this is how they make money.

Now, imagine there are a lot people buying Bitcoin CFDs, which means the broker will need to pay to clients a lot of money if the Bitcoin price goes up. How do they do it? They hedge. There are a few ways to do it.

  • They can buy coins from crypto exchanges,
  • they make a bet with a so-called liquidity provider,
  • or they do Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Brokerchooser has heard some rumours that when the crypto music was playing in 2017 even liquidity providers were having difficulties to offer hedge to the CFD brokers. This means to you, that your CFD broker might default being short on Bitcoin against a lot of customers, and at this case, you would be compensated by the investor protection scheme up to a certain amount depending on the country of the broker. Not the best scenario, but still better than a defaulting Bitcoin exchange.

Fees, risks and how you are protected

Crypto fees can be less at CFDs brokers than at Bitcoin exchanges. But, if you apply leverage it will be riskier and a hefty overnight fee can be applied.

When trading, the most important fee is the trading fee. This can be spreads and commissions.

Spreads are the differences between the buy and sell price. This can be ~1% with some CFD brokers. This compares with the ~4% fee per trade for some coin exchanges. Plus you need to count with the 4% is twice, once for buying and once for selling. Yes, there are Bitcoin exchanges with far smaller spreads, so keep an eye on spreads at exchanges too.

Commissions are also applied at some brokers on top of the spread. Check our comparison table. Additionally, there is the 5-20% overnight fee per year for the leveraged amount, if there is any. Also keep an eye on inactivity fee, withdrawal fee, and account fee, some brokers apply these.

There are four risks you should look into when investing in Bitcoins CFDs

  • The CFD broker is a fraud or it defaults: It is easy to prevent fraud. Choose a regulated broker. Even better if it is listed on a stock exchange or has a bank parent. Now let’s say the broker defaults. In this case - and this is the huge difference compared to crypto exchanges - you are compensated by the investor protection scheme the broker is from. This is at least €20,000 per client if the broker is from the EU, but can go up to £85,000 for UK brokers. Check with the broker's regulator. E.g. at eToro you do not get any investor protection when you trade with cryptos.

  • The market moves big time and freezes: the CFD broker platform might crash technically, and you will not be able to close your positions. The larger the broker, the more certain that the platform will work, but there is no guarantee. We think CFD broker platforms will be more reliable than crypto exchanges, but this is just a guess. Let’s go further. Say, you managed to log in and place an order. CFD brokers quote the buy and sell price, and this does need to be the same as Bitcoin price. This is a risk for you. If the market starts to freeze, CFD brokers will increase their spreads significantly, meaning you might need to liquidate your position with an additional cut.

  • Price gets volatile and you use leverage: This is true for all leveraged trades, but as cryptos are really volatile, be extra careful. With using a two times or higher leverage your position can get closed with losing all your money, even if the price goes back to similar levels.

How to Invest in Bitcoin ETNs and Bitcoin ETFs

ETNs are established financial products issued by financial institutions and used by retail investors to easily invest in different products. There are crypto ETNs too, and you can buy these through traditional online brokers. Bitcoin ETNs are juvenile, issued by one institution only. Still, you can invest in Bitcoin in a regulated environment, through regulated players with governmental guarantees. Let’s see how.

Bitcoin ETNs are great to buy and hold Bitcoins

Bitcoin ETNs does not have any fees to hold, and you will be under government guarantee if your broker defaults. It is also a fairly good product to trade, as transaction costs are relatively low.

There is one letdown. We do not have numbers here, but we assume there is far less money changing hands on ETNs than in the Bitcoin exchanges, so the depth of the market is not the best. Prove us wrong in the comment section.

You can invest in Bitcoin ETNs at a stockbroker with Swedish market access

The only well-known ETNs are issued by XBT Provider, and it is traded on the Swedish exchange. So, you need a stockbroker with access to the Swedish market. Most brokers can do this but check with yours if you already have one.

To open a brokerage account you need to go through a more complicated process than a Bitcoin exchange. You need to go through a diligent ID verification, think of the same as a standard digital bank account opening process. When you opened and funded the brokerage account search for COINXBE, which is the ticker for the ETN by XBT Provider.

Here are two brokers that provide bitcoin ETNs from the Swedish market.

Crypto ETN brokers
  DEGIRO Saxo Bank
Overall score 4.8 4.8
Fees score 4.6 stars 3.3 stars
  visit broker visit broker

Bitcoin ETNs and Bitcoin ETFs are practically mini funds

Probably you have heard ETFs, which are practically mini funds. Unfortunately, there isn’t any Bitcoin ETF yet, so let’s look into its cousin, ETNs.

Very vaguely said, with an ETN you buy an IOU from a financial institution. The IOU has a maturity, and at the end of the maturity, it will pay an amount depending on the price of the asset, in our case Bitcoin. Since the payback of the IOU depends on the price of Bitcoin, the ETN price follows the price of Bitcoin. Practically, when you buy an ETN on Monday and sell it on Wednesday your gain or loss is the same as you would have bought cryptos.

How Bitcoin ETNs work

The most important part to understand is that you invest in an ETN through a stock exchange by a regulated online stockbroker. This is more secure than an unregulated Bitcoin exchange. The main parties involved are the broker, the exchange, the issuer of the ETN.

Fees, risks and how you are protected

ETN transaction prices depend on your broker, but it can go as low 0.1% or $1 per trade. There can be some additional fees (inactivity fee or withdrawal fee). Still, it will be cheaper to buy ETNs, than coins on exchanges.

There are three risks when using Bitcoin ETNs:

  • The ETN issuer defaults: An ETN is an IOU from a financial institution. Generally, ETNs are issued by big financial institution with good credit ratings. In the case of Bitcoin ETNs, there is only one issuer, XBT Provider, which is a small financial firm. We could not find any credit rating about them.  Remember, it is an IOU, so if the ETN issuer defaults, you have a problem. However, XBT Provider is regulated by financial authorities, in contrary to crypto exchanges

  • The market moves big time and freezes: Bitcoin price movement does not put a big pressure on stockbrokers. Their platforms will be up and running, and you will be able to place your order. A problem could be that there is no price. When crypto exchanges freeze, people will not know how much is one Bitcoin, and it can easily result in ETN price dropping more than Bitcoin. This is a big risk, and it is worth to consider when deciding.

  • The stockbroker defaults: Yes, this can be a risk, even if it is unlikely. In that case it very much depends on where your broker is from, and you will be protected up to the country’s investor protection scheme.

How to Invest in Bitcoin Through Bitcoin Futures

Futures are contracts traded on an exchange. Currently there are two exchanges allowing Bitcoin futures, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Note, CME and CBOE are not crypto exchanges, but established, long running, financial derivative exchanges.

Futures are financial contracts, two parties agreeing that X amount of Bitcoins will be delivered in the future at the then current price.

The price of the Bitcoin future changes as the current price of Bitcoin changes. Bitcoin futures are aimed at professional and institutional traders, so we keep our introduction short. Let us know in the comment section, if you want to know more.

Bitcoin futures are great to trade large Bitcoins positions

Bitcoin futures are great for trading. You can have a large leverage, and if you are professional this is the best instrument to trade. It has a large minimum trade size, so you can use it if, you can afford it.

For Bitcoin futures you need a broker access to CME or CBOE

You need an online broker providing access to CME or CBOE. In most cases you can open an account with the broker digitally. The broker will request a test proving you know what you are doing. Brokerchooser fully agrees with this method. Futures are only for people knowing what they are doing, for them it is great though.

Two brokers we tested and we know they are good:

Bitcoin futures brokers
  Interactive Brokers Swissquote
Overall score 4.9 4.5
Fees score 4.5 stars 2.1 stars
  visit broker visit broker

These are the other great to mention:

Bitcoin futures are standard financial derivatives

If you are not familiar with futures, we would recommend starting to trade with other, non-Bitcoin futures first. Bitcoin futures have by month maturities. The initial margins are quite high, ~40%, so this means you need to have multiple thousands of dollars for one contract (~$5,000 at the beginning of January, 2018).

How it works and main parties

CBOE or CME will pair you with the best buy/sell offer on the market. When the price of the future changes and you potentially lose, you need to deposit more to your margin. If you lose too much, your position will be closed. The price of Bitcoin is determined by CBOE and CME with averaging multiple crypto exchange prices.

Fees, risks and how you are protected

Trading futures can be super cost efficient. One contract can cost you as low as ~$5, having a $10,000 Bitcoin notional exposure. Let’s see risks and how you are protected:

  • The broker defaults: Yes, this can be a risk, even if it is unlikely. In that case, it very much depends where your broker is from. Normally, US brokers are safer, because they have higher governmental investor protection amounts. But, since cryptos are not “securities”, and as such, not under the SIPC protection. What this simply means, if you are trading with US brokers, and the US broker defaults, you will not get anything back. If you are trading with a European broker, you will be compensated up to the broker country investor protection amount.

  • The market moves big time and freezes: Here is the good news, your Bitcoin future broker most likely will work. Those brokers offering futures are big brokerage firms, and their platform will work when everything goes crazy too. However, both CME and CBOE Bitcoin futures exchanges have a maximum price change for a single day, currently 20%. So, at a big sell-off, you might not be able to close your position that day.

  • Price gets volatile: Since you are in a leveraged trade, major Bitcoin price movements can easily eat into your margins, and make you close the position, even when the price movement was just for a short period of time.

Bottom Line

And that’s it, you made it. You understand Bitcoin exchanges, Bitcoin CFDs, Bitcoin ETNs, and Bitcoin futures. You are free to choose among these alternatives, and also to combine them if you want to.

  • We think Bitcoin exchanges can be expensive and insecure, so it is worth looking around for alternatives before making an investment decision. Make sure to combine them with a wallet.
  • Bitcoin CFDs are good for trading, but be very careful with leverage.
  • Bitcoin ETNs are great for buy and hold, but right now there are only second tier issuers.
  • And Bitcoin futures are the best for professional traders.

Let us know what you think in the comment section.

And again, Bitcoin trading is very risky, be prepared to lose your money if you start.

 

Still unsure? Here is a summary trading bitcoin which may provide clarity.

Bitcoin trading
Broker Bitcoin Wallet Bitcoin CFD Bitcoin ETN, ETF Bitcoin Futures
Saxo Bank     x x
Interactive Brokers     x x
Degiro     x x
Swissquote       x
XTB   x    
eToro x x    

Now that we collected them to a summary table. Let's take a look at each.

Beginners can feel comfortable with Saxo Bank, while more advanced traders would appreciate its great tools, charts and a wide range of research. Its fees are high.

 

visit broker

Interactive Brokers is designed for advanced traders and investors. We like it since it has tons of functions, low fees, and great markets coverage, but stay away if you are a beginner.

 

visit broker

 

Price sensitive buy and hold investors and traders should consider DEGIRO with its very low fees and wide market access. Even beginners can handle its trading platform, however, research and education are not provided.

 

visit broker

 

 

The theme investing and the built-in crypto investing are two features why you will like Swissquote. However, its high pricing can carve out a serious chunk from your returns, especially, in case of smaller trades.

 

visit broker

 

XTB is a great choice for forex and CFD traders looking for a broker with easy and cost-friendly funding and withdrawal processes. It has also great research tools. Its trading fees are average.

 

visit broker
81% of retail CFD accounts lose money

eToro is a great place for social trading and its fees are low. On the other hand, we experienced outages and breakdowns with its trading platform quite often.  

 

visit broker
eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal

Cryptoassets are unregulated and can fluctuate widely in price and are, therefore, not appropriate for all investors. Trading with crypto assets is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. Your capital is at risk.

Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.

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Author of this article

Gergely Korpos

Co-Founder, CPO | Equity • Community Trader • Financial Market

With over a decade of experience in financial markets, I've executed thousands of trades as both a commodity trader and an equity portfolio manager. I have hands-on experience in opening accounts with the brokers that are listed on BrokerChooser. As the co-founder and Chief Product Officer (CPO) of BrokerChooser, my mission is to demystify personal investing for all.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

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