Trade Cardano on a cryptocurrency exchange
If you want to buy real cryptocurrencies, you can also do so on so-called crypto marketplaces. The most well-known German crypto marketplace is called Bitcoin.de. So far, only Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum can be bought there, Cardano does not exist there. In order to trade or buy real Cardano, you very often need Bitcoin or Ethereum, which you can then exchange in Cardano. A visit to Bitcoin.de can therefore still be worthwhile.
There are marketplaces for very few cryptocurrencies, and investors have also been looking in vain for a Cardano marketplace. If you want to buy Cardano, you have to do it through a crypto exchange.
Some of the best-known trading exchanges for digital currencies include Bitfinex, CEX.IO, Kraken, Bitstamp and Paymium. Unfortunately, it is currently (as of January 16, 2018) not possible to buy Cardano on these exchanges. On bittrex.com, on the other hand, you can exchange bitcoins for ADA coins. To do this, you must register on bittrex.com and create an account. In the next step, exchange the bitcoins that you already own in your web wallet for Cardano (you can find out how to buy bitcoin in our bitcoin guide).
The Cardano purchase on bittrex.com is then similar to a security purchase on a stock exchange: First find out what the Cardano price is. Then enter your price and how much Bitcoins you want to spend on it. You must be guided by the current exchange rate and by supply and demand. In the last step you buy Cardano.
You can also buy ADA coins on binance.com, but sometimes no further registrations are accepted there (as of January 16, 2018). However, registration is mandatory to trade cryptocurrencies on binance.com.
Also note that opening an account or verifying it on crypto exchanges can take some time, sometimes several days. Buying real Cardano can therefore (still) be a bit complicated and tedious at the moment. In addition, the prices of cryptocurrencies on different exchanges and trading platforms can sometimes vary greatly.