Trading Bitcoin: 9 Decisions Worth Making Before Your First Trade (Lesson 9)
In this lesson, you will learn:
- which decisions are worth making before you start trading cryptocurrency and tokenised assets.
Before your first Bitcoin trade, it helps to answer a few questions for yourself: what you are buying, where, why, and how much you are prepared to lose. Below are nine decisions that will help you do this. These are not investment recommendations but questions that are best worked through on your own and without haste.
Decision 1. Understand what Bitcoin is
Before buying an asset, it is worth understanding how it works. Many contradictory forecasts are published about Bitcoin, from a million dollars per coin to the BTC price falling almost to zero. Pay attention not to the figures but to what the forecast is based on and who made it. No forecast guarantees that the price will behave exactly that way.
A few facts worth knowing:
- Limited supply. A total of 21 million Bitcoins can be issued. The 20 millionth coin was mined in March 2026, and the remaining million will be issued over more than a hundred years.
- Divisibility. One Bitcoin is divisible into 100 million units called satoshis. So there is no need to buy a whole coin.
- Legal status. In most countries, Bitcoin is not legal tender. In the Republic of Belarus, cryptocurrency is not legal tender. At the same time, since 2024, Bitcoin has been available to large investors through exchange-traded funds in the US.
Decision 2. Decide whether to trade on your own or through an intermediary
You can trade on your own or entrust management to an intermediary — a broker or asset manager. An intermediary is usually chosen by those who lack time or experience. Their services come at a cost, and it is worth comparing fees in advance.
Trading on your own takes time to learn but allows you to understand each of your decisions. If you choose this path, start with a demo account and small amounts.
Taxes should also be considered separately. In Belarus, individuals do not pay personal income tax on income from cryptocurrency transactions carried out through HTP residents. For transactions through other venues, the tax consequences are different, and buying and selling for money on them is prohibited.
Decision 3. Choose a legal venue
In Belarus, since 20 September 2024, individuals may buy and sell cryptocurrency for money only through residents of the High Technologies Park (Decree No. 367). Buying for money on foreign exchanges and from private individuals via P2P is prohibited. Since 19 June 2026, violations have been punishable by a fine of 20 to 100 base units with confiscation (Article 12.36 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
The choice of venue depends on how you plan to trade:
- One-off purchase or sale. An exchange operator that is an HTP resident will do. Such a service is simpler, but its fees may be higher.
- Regular trading. A crypto platform is more convenient: it lets you place different order types, trade with leverage and work with several assets.
What to check before registering:
- whether the company is on the list of residents on the HTP website;
- whether fees and withdrawal terms are published;
- whether the venue asks you to verify your identity — legal venues are required to do so.
Decision 4. Choose a trading strategy
We discussed strategies in more detail in Lesson 8. In brief:
Long-term strategy (HODL). With this strategy, an asset is held for months and years without reacting to current fluctuations. Supporters of this approach point to those who bought Bitcoin many years ago. But there were also those who bought at the 2017 or 2021 peak and remained at a loss for years. The long-term approach requires money you will not need in the coming years and a willingness to endure deep price declines.
Short-term strategy. Trades are made within the day on price fluctuations. A fee is charged for each trade, so frequent trading costs more. The approach takes a lot of time and puts a heavy emotional strain on the trader.
Medium-term strategy. Positions are held from several days to several weeks. There is time to think decisions through, but you need to watch the market daily and set exit levels in advance.
The crypto market often changes direction, and a strategy that worked in one period may stop working in another. Whatever approach you choose, it will require discipline and well-thought-out rules set in advance.
Decision 5. Understand order types
All trades on the Dzengi crypto platform are made through orders. The main order types are market, limit and stop orders. We covered them in detail in Lessons 5 and Lessons 6.
Let's take a hypothetical Bitcoin price of $100,000:
- Market order. You buy $500 worth of Bitcoin at the current price and receive 0.005 BTC.
- Limit order. You place a sell order at $110,000. If the price reaches that level, the trade will go through at $110,000 or higher. If it does not, the order will not be filled.
- Stop-loss. You set it at $95,000. If the price falls to that level, the position will close, and the loss will be about $25, even if the decline continues.
The crypto market operates around the clock. Orders let you set the terms of a trade in advance and not have to watch the price constantly.
On some venues, the fee for limit orders is lower than for market orders. It is worth studying the fee schedule of your chosen venue.
Another tool is trading with leverage. The platform adds its own funds to yours, and the trade becomes larger than your contribution. Leverage magnifies profit and loss equally, and a fee is charged for holding a position overnight. Read more about leverage trading in Lesson 3.
Decision 6. Study the risks
Investment risks cannot be eliminated completely, but they can be managed:
- Fraud. Do not trust websites and people who promise guaranteed or quick returns. A legal venue does not guarantee returns.
- Phishing. Do not download crypto wallets and apps from random links. Check the addresses of crypto platform websites: fraudsters use domains that look like the real ones.
- Choice of venue. Use regulated venues. In Belarus, the market is regulated by Decree No. 8 and Decree No. 367; in the EU, the MiCA regulation has been in force since the end of 2024. Regulation does not eliminate all risks, but it sets rules for the venue.
- Other people's advice. Do your own analysis. Advice on social media and Telegram channels is not a basis for a trade; even professionals regularly make forecasting errors. You are responsible for the trades you make.
- Keys and passwords. Do not share passwords, confirmation codes or wallet keys with anyone. Enable two-factor authentication.
Decision 7. Do not invest more than you are prepared to lose
Invest only an amount whose loss will not affect your everyday life. You should not invest your last money needed for rent, medical treatment or loan repayments. Investing always carries the risk of losing the money invested.
Bitcoin's position in the crypto market may also change. Today it is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, but technology leaders change: there was a time when the leading search engine was Yahoo, which everyone has since forgotten.
Decision 8. Start with demo trading or small amounts
The larger the share of capital in a single trade, the more a single mistake affects the outcome. At the same time, losses are harder to recover than to incur.
If a single trade can cost you no more than 5% of your capital, a mistake will be inexpensive and easy to recover from. But if 75% is lost in a single trade, the remainder has to quadruple to get back to the original amount. Using a demo account or small amounts of real money lets you gain experience without putting your main capital at risk.
Decision 9. Diversify your investments
If all your funds are invested in one asset, the outcome depends entirely on it. Spreading investments — diversification — reduces this dependence.
But diversification within cryptocurrencies has a limit: the prices of most altcoins depend heavily on Bitcoin (Lesson 2). In a sharp market decline, they often fall at the same time. One possible diversification strategy is combining different asset classes: stocks, indices, commodities, currencies. On Dzengi, they are available in one account in tokenised form.
Diversification does not fully protect against losses and does not guarantee profit. It helps you get through periods of sharp fluctuations without a single unforeseen event determining your entire financial outcome.
