How & where to buy Celsius (CEL) online

Celsius offers loans and savings accounts in cryptocurrency and pays 80% of its earnings back out to its users. Use this guide to find out how it all works and where to buy its native token.
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Updated: May 11, 2023
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This beginner’s guide introduces you to Celsius and the mechanics behind the platform. If you’re looking to learn more about its CEL token and find a trading platform to get some of your own, we can help with that too.

What are the best exchanges to buy Celsius on?

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Any of these platforms are a good place to start. We’ve put together a list of the top options based on thorough analysis from our team of experts. If you want more information first, read on to get it.

1
Min. Deposit
$ 50
Best offer
User Score
9.2
Log in using the app and claim the Mystery Box to receive up to $10,000 in reward
One of the top digital asset exchanges by trading volume
Serving millions of users in over 100 countries
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
AdvCash, AliPay, American Express, Bank Transfer, Banxa, Credit Card, Debit Card, Discover, Mastercard, Mercada Pago, PayPal, Payoneer, PicPay, QIWI, SEPA, Simplex, Visa, WeChat, Wire Transfer, neteller, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , skrill
Full Regulations:
Trading in digital assets is considered high risk. Digital assets are NOT backed by any government or central bank. The risk of loss in trading or holding digital assets can be substantial. You should carefully consider whether interacting, holding, or trading digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.
2
Min. Deposit
$ 0
Best offer
User Score
0.0
Earn high, borrow low
Earn up to 17% yield on their crypto
Buy coins, earn yield,borrow, and transfer with no fees.
Start Trading
Payment Methods:
Full Regulations:

How to buy CEL online – a step-by-step guide

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Step 1. Find an exchange

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If you want to own a coin outright, an exchange is the best place to go. Exchanges can vary in the service they offer, particularly in terms of the range of coins available and the fees for withdrawing them, but the best bet is to pick a popular one with a good reputation. A couple of our favourite ones are:

  • Binance: Binance is one of the most widely-used exchanges around. It offers a huge variety of coins and hundreds more pairs, so it’s easy to find any token you want on there. Sign up for Binance now >
  • BitMEX: BitMex is a Bitcoin exchange that offers an intuitive platform as well as an integrated wallet you can use to store your coins. Join BitMEX today >

Step 2. Sign up and fund your account

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Before you can start trading, you have to create an account. You’ll be asked to provide contact details and might be asked for a copy of photo ID for verification. Many exchanges now accept deposits in fiat currency (like GBP or EUR), but you may find some that only accept cryptocurrency.

Step 3. Purchase

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Search for its ticker symbol, which is CEL, and then select the right pairing to match it with your payment method. If you’re using Bitcoin, for example, then look for the CEL/BTC pair and execute the trade.

Step 4. (Optional) Get a suitable wallet

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Now that you have your coins, it’s time to find a place to store them. In an exchange account is a perfectly acceptable place, but if you want more security then a wallet is the ideal solution. Wallets keep your coins so they can only be accessed via a private key that’s unique to you. Some of our favourites are:

  • Guarda Wallet: Guarda is an online wallet you can access through your desktop, web browser, or an app. It integrates with an exchange too, so you can make moves from within your wallet. Get Guarda Wallet now >
  • KeepKey: KeepKey is a hardware wallet that stores your coins on a USB-like device. The coins are kept in cold storage, completely safe and separate from an internet connection even if you connect it to an infected computer. Sign up for KeepKey >

How to trade Celsius – a step-by-step guide

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Step 1. Find a broker

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If you’re going to trade a coin, you want a broker that charges low (or no) trading fees. Short term trading means making lots of trades and high fees can drain your capital very quickly.

Celsius isn’t available to trade with many brokers yet. If and when that changes, the likes of eToro and Robinhood will be the first to offer it.

Step 2. Deposit money

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You have to use fiat currency to fund your account. Beware of deposit fees, as many brokers charge for all sorts of actions. Trading is one too, of course, as is withdrawals. It’s worth checking the fee structure for all of these before you sign up.

Step 3. Decide how you’d like to trade

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If you’ve heard of cryptocurrency trading, it probably means trading CFDs. This is different from actually owning a coin, with CFDs you bet on price moves instead. It lends itself to fast, short-term trading but you should be careful with the difference between the buy and sell price, as these can be another way brokers make money.

Step 4. Start trading 

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When you start trading, it might be a good idea to use a demo account. Virtually all brokers offer a version of this and it’s a way of trading with fake money, rather than putting your own funds at risk.

In terms of the trading itself, you have a simple choice to make each time. Do you think the coin is going to go up or down in value? If it’s the former, you should buy it (known as taking a ‘long’ position). Otherwise, sell (‘short’) it.

One other trading strategy it’s worth knowing about is using leverage. Leverage means putting down a deposit so you can make a trade worth many times that amount. This means you can win big but you should be careful, as you’re always liable for the entire value, so it can get very expensive if you lose as well.

Still undecided?

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If you’ve got this far and still aren’t sure about Celsius, don’t worry. We still have more information to help you, starting with this summary of its pros and cons. After that, there are a few more questions you might find useful.

Pros

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  • Lots of demand for decentralised lending
  • Unlock rewards like higher interest rates if you own the CEL coin
  • Celsius reinvests 80% of its profits back into its users pockets

Cons

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Finally, here’s three questions before you decide whether to invest in Celsius.

1. Is it a good time to buy Celsius?

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It depends on what you want to do with the coins. As the Celsius token unlocks better interest rates, it’s worth grabbing some of its tokens if you’re going to deposit money or borrow on the platform. If you’re looking at it as an investment, there are some different things to think about.

As a long term investor, do you think its price is going to be higher in the future than it is now? Or do you expect a pullback first? Similarly for short term traders, a lot depends on the current price. You can try different analysis techniques to decide if it’s an opportunity right now, or use our very own analysis to help you:

2. What problem does Celsius solve, and what are the coin’s investment prospects?

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Celsius solves the problem of offering financial services without a bank. Anyone who holds a lot of coins already can use it to earn interest on them, or use them as collateral to borrow other coins or even fiat currency.

A lot of money has been staked and borrowed on Celsius already, which is a good sign for its future prospects as the industry grows. But you should note that there are other lending platforms out there. AAVE and Compound, for example, play a similar role but with fewer questions about their exact business practices. 

This isn’t to say Celsius is a bad investment, rather that you should do your research before buying. Even more so if you’re intending to use their services. Our team is always on top of the latest news, and you can find the most important recent developments right here:

Early Thursday’s court filings confirmed that consortium Fahrenheit won the bid to acquire bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius. Earlier stats valued the lender’s assets at about $2B. Fahrenheit comprises Arrington Capital, US Bitcoin Corp, Ravi Kaza, Steven Kokinos, and Proof Group. F
JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) has hired Aaron Iovine, a former regulatory affairs executive at bankrupt crypto lender Celsius (CEL/USD), only a few weeks after he left the embattled crypto company. Reuters reported the development, citing the new JPMorgan Chase $ Co employee’s LinkedIn profile. Ex-Cels
Celsius Network (CEL/USD) founder Alex Mashinsky, who recently resigned as the bankrupt crypto lender’s CEO, withdrew $10 million from the firm’s accounts just weeks before it announced a halt to all customer withdrawals, according to a Financial Times report. This latest Celsius news re

3. Do you want to hold Celsius for the long term?

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Ultimately it depends what you want to do with it. If you’re bullish on its prospects or intend to use the service, then the answer is probably yes. For short term traders how long you hold is going to depend on what your charts say. Whichever one you are, here are some final things to consider.

Considerations for a long term investment strategy

Long term investing is the best choice if you think Celsius is only going to go up in the future. If you’re in it for the long haul, the best place to buy Celsius coins in the UK is through an exchange. After that, think about signing up for a wallet to store them.

Considerations for a short term trading strategy

A trading strategy means making lots of trades quickly to take advantage of small price changes. To trade like this, sign up to a broker with low trading fees and think about using techniques like CFD trading and leverage.



Sources & references
Risk disclaimer
James Knight
Editor of Education
James is a lead content editor for Invezz. He's an avid trader and golfer, who spends an inordinate amount of time watching Leicester City and the... read more.