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How to buy Elrond online
This beginner’s guide will introduce you to the Elrond platform and its EGLD coin. Read on to find out what decentralised finance is and what makes Elrond different from the competition.
Compare where to buy Elrond, and open an account
You can get Elrond coins straight away using one of the brokers below. Our broker reviews can help you choose which one is best for you and your investing goals, but these options are some of the best trading platforms around. If you’re not ready to pick one of them just yet, keep reading to learn more about Elrond.
What is Elrond?
Elrond wants to introduce millions of people to an alternative financial system. It’s one of the blockchain platforms leading the charge into decentralised finance. Elrond offers a place for developers to build financial apps, along with an intuitive interface that’s welcoming to new users. The EGLD coin is the native cryptocurrency that powers the Elrond platform. EGLD is used for paying fees on the network, gives its holders voting rights on governance, and can be staked to earn rewards.
The Elrond network can perform many times more transactions, and run many more apps than existing blockchains like Ethereum. In theory, that means Elrond has a more realistic chance of being able to scale up and cope with the volume of transactions that would be required of a mainstream financial platform.
The new coin dates to summer 2020 when Elrond released its fully functional network. At that point, its old ERD coin was replaced by EGLD at an exchange rate of 1000:1. That might help to explain its history when you look at the current price of EGLD. EGLD is designed to act more like a crypto version of a commodity, with low volatility, which is why Elrond offers much higher rewards for holding onto your coins than most of its competition.
How does Elrond work?
Elrond works by processing transactions simultaneously to drastically increase its speed. Through a process known as ‘Adaptive State Sharding’, Elrond can perform up to 15,000 transactions per second. This is significantly more than early generation blockchains, like Bitcoin, which can only perform about 7 per second.
Adaptive State Sharding just means that Elrond breaks down the bottleneck of all the work having to run through one block. Instead, it splits it into a series of smaller blocks, which are independent but can communicate with each other and run at the same time. Elrond has also been designed so developers can build apps in programming languages that are already widely used, and therefore make the network much more accessible.
Another way Elrond has sped up its transactions is by using proof-of-stake to verify its transactions. This is where transactions are approved by a vote rather than an intensive mining process as was the case with early blockchain platforms. This offers opportunities for EGLD token holders, as Elrond offers a reward if you stake your coins to help with this process. The rewards on offer are up to 30% annually just for storing your coins in a wallet and letting Elrond use them.
How to buy EGLD online – a step-by-step guide
Step 1. Find an exchange
You can find Elrond on most cryptocurrency exchanges or by going direct to the Elrond website, where you can pay with fiat currency. If you choose a crypto exchange, you’ll usually need to transfer your money into another cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Ether, first. Here are two top exchanges to do that on:
- Binance: One of the biggest names in the cryptocurrency trading space, Binance allows users to trade hundreds of different cryptocurrencies, including Elrond. Open an account right now.
- BitMEX: A peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange platform that allows for trading using Bitcoin. All accounts also provide users with an online wallet in which to store their coins. Open a BitMEX account today.
Step 2. Sign up and fund your account
To trade with an exchange you normally need to sign up for an account first. You’ll need to provide some identification – usually a copy of a photo ID like a passport or driving licence – before you can deposit money to fund your trades. Most exchanges accept deposits in fiat currency, although some still can only be funded with cryptocurrency.
Step 3. Purchase
Once you’ve signed up for an account and deposited funds, you’ll be able to start snapping up coins. Just look for the EGLD/USD or EGLD/BTC price chart, and execute the trade.
Step 4. (Optional) Get a suitable wallet
You can get your own Elrond wallet and transfer your coins into it for added security. You don’t have to do this, but it could be worth considering for EGLD coins. EGLD is suited to long-term holding if you want to benefit from its annual yield. You can set up an Elrond wallet on its website, or use one of these popular wallet providers:
- Freewallet: An online cryptocurrency wallet that can be accessed through a browser or a dedicated mobile app. With Freewallet you can hold more than 100 different cryptos. Join Freewallet now >
- Infinito Wallet: A mobile wallet where you can store all the top cryptos and earn rewards for holding them. Infinito is an all-encompassing wallet that lets you buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies as well. Sign up for Infinito Wallet >
How to trade Elrond – a step-by-step guide
Step 1. Find a broker
If you’re looking to trade EGLD you need a reliable, low-fee broker that can execute your trades. At the moment, not many brokers offer Elrond trading as an option, but this may change as it grows and becomes more popular. A good place to start looking is with eToro, one of the most popular brokers around. Its professional eToroX platform already offers Elrond trading. Another option could be Robinhood.
Step 2. Deposit money
Most brokers let you use fiat currency to fund your account. You should take into account the trading fees each broker charges on every trade to make sure you get the best value for your money before you start trading.
Step 3. Decide how you’d like to trade
Once your account is funded, you have a few different options for how you can trade. One of the most common is spread betting, while another is to trade contracts for difference (CFDs). In both cases, you’re speculating on the performance of EGLD rather than investing in the coin itself. You can choose which is the best option for you by learning about cryptocurrency trading.
Step 4. Start trading
When your broker account is set up, you can start trading. If you’re a beginner to crypto trading you should think about starting with a demo account to learn the basics. These accounts help you understand the market without the risk of losing money.
If you’re more experienced, trading with leverage is a trading strategy you can use. Using leverage can let you make large trades while only putting up a small amount of the trade value. Although remember to be careful as it carries a much higher risk of losing a lot of money if the market moves against you.
Still undecided?
You should always take time to think over any potential investment, and this is especially true when it comes to cryptocurrency. Here are some pros and cons to consider when it comes to investing in Elrond, along with some key questions to think about below.
Pros
- Offers generous returns for staking coins on its network
- There’s a fixed supply to prevent inflationary pressure
- The Elrond platform has a more intuitive interface than many crypto coins
Cons
To go with those pros and cons, here are three more questions to think about before you decide to invest in Elrond.
1. Is it a good time to buy Elrond?
If you have a long term outlook and are happy holding onto your coins for a while, then the answer could be yes. If you’re looking for immediate results, there are more things to consider, such as whether EGLD is volatile enough to make short term trading a profitable option.
A long term approach is ideal because Elrond’s rewards scheme offers a near-30% annual return on your investment just for staking (essentially storing) the coin on its platform. This comes with some risk, but is a deliberate aim on Elrond’s part to make its coin more stable. However long your time horizons, follow our market analysis to stay up to date on what’s new with Elrond:
2. What problem does Elrond solve, and what are the coin’s investment prospects?
One of Elrond’s main selling points is the fact it can be run on a regular computer and understood by people from outside the cryptocurrency space. The speed of its transactions opens up the blockchain to more people, while it can create smart contracts using a wide range of programmatic languages, again making it more accessible.
Like many crypto tokens, EGLD’s long-term investment prospects ultimately depend on the success of its network. Elrond still needs to prove its platform matches up to its bold claims of scalability and speed. It only went live with its fully operational version in the summer of 2020 and the first apps – most notably its in-built wallet app, Maier – only started to be released in 2021.
With new coins and technologies being introduced all the time, crypto is a fast-moving world and want to stay on top of all the newest developments in the space. Use the latest news below to help you:
Blockchain platform Elrond to tokenize precious metals
The Future of Elrond and its real-world app appeal: is EGLD worth buying in June?
Romanian University partners with Elrond (EGLD) to accept crypto payments
3. Do you want to hold Elrond for the long term?
If you trust Elrond’s future prospects then it offers a generous annual yield for staking your coins and participating in its success. EGLD tokens are one of the more unusual coins in the crypto space because they’re intended to act more like a commodity and offer a stable return over a long period of time. If you want to hold for the long term you should make sure to research the latest Elrond news.
Considerations for a long term investment strategy
If you think that Elrond’s best days lie ahead and want to benefit from its annual yield return. You can find Elrond on its website or sign up for a reliable cryptocurrency exchange to get some coins there. You might also want to consider getting a personal wallet to store your coins for the long term.
Considerations for a short term trading strategy
If you’re aiming to trade Elrond quickly to try to capitalise on short-term fluctuations in price, the annual yield and underlying performance of EGLD doesn’t matter so much. You should make sure you understand technical analysis and choose a broker that offers low trading fees. Reading charts accurately can give you the best chance of predicting price movements and having success trading.
Fact-checking & references
Our editors fact-check all content to ensure compliance with our strict editorial policy. The information in this article is supported by the following reliable sources.
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