Step 1: Buy BTC, ETH, LTC, or BCH:
Purchase with Coinbase: Go to Coinbase.com create an account, and add a payment method (whether it is a credit/debit card, or your bank account). You will also need to verify your account through your government issued ID, this will then allow you to buy either BTC, ETH, BCH, or LTC. If you spend over $100 dollars while using the link provided, you will get a $10 bonus! Also, for planning ahead to make it easier to get Alt Coins such as Ripple, IoTa, Verge, and ADA, I would highly recommend purchasing with ETH because transferring the money is faster and cheaper than with BTC, and less transactions than LTC.
Note:When buying with credit/debit cards the purchase is instant, as compared through your bank account it will take 7-10 days to arrive to your account (but has lower fees).
If you are planning on purchasing Alt Coins, and are awaiting for your cryptocurrency to appear in your wallet, proceed to the second step so you can get your account on Binance.com set up, so once your currency is in your Coinbase wallet, all you need to do is send the currency to the Binance exchange!
Purchase with Coinsquare:
**This is for Canadian citizens only** Go to Coinsquare and set up an account. By using this link provided you will be able to get a $20 bonus with a purchase of $60 or more. In order to use this exchange and set up your account you will need to verify your mobile number, a utility bill or bank statement, and your driver's license. Now set up your payment method, and choose your cryptocurrency of choice (I suggest using ETH or LTC if you are planning to send this to a separate exchange to buy Alt Coins)! Once you are done you can choose to set up a separate exchange in order to purchase any of the "Alt Coins". If not, you're all set!Purchase with Changelly: Go to Changelly.com, and register an account through the link provided. Once you have your account verified, go to the home page, and select in the left box how much USD you would like to spend, and select the corresponding currency you want to purchase. From here you need to have a wallet address entered, so you need to use a wallet address from a separate exchange. Changelly does not store any coins on their platform, so you need to have them stored on a different platform such as Coinbase.com, Binance.com, or HitBTC.com. Copy the corresponding coins "deposit" address (if using Binance or HitBTC) or the "Receive" address (if you would like to store them on Coinbase). These steps are found below in the second steps (before purcashing make sure you have your other account created to send your coins to!!). Now, to purchase, enter in your information and purchase your coins. It should take about 30 minutes for them to be purchased. If the blockchain is busy, which happens fairly often, it will take some time for the coins to arrive in your wallet.
Note: In order to be able to purchase without a limit there are a few small requirements: "$50 limit for the first transaction, the next purchase could be made in 4 days (100$ limit), $500 after 7 days of the first buy. No more than 3 payments within the first week. No limits in one month at all." While this exchange has the ability to have no purchase limits, the prices and fees are not very favorable.
Step 2: Pick your Crypto Currency Trading Platform:
Crypto Exchange “Binance”: Once you have your BTC, ETH or LTC (preferably ETH), go to Binance.com and create your account “No Verification Needed” -meaning just input your name, and an email and you'll be set. By using the link provided above, or by clicking here, you will get a 50% discount on all your trading fees with BNB! After creating your account, you will need to transfer your Coins that you just purchased to your Binance wallet. First you need to download the Authy app on your smartphone or your computer. You can find the extension on Google chrome by typing "Authy extension". This process will help certify that it is your account and make it more secure. After this, go to binance and hover over the tab "Funds" at the top, and then select "Deposit Withdrawals". From here, select your corresponding cryptocurrency that you purchased, or already have on coinbase (or any other exchange such as Kraken, or Gemini). If you don't select the same one your money can be lost on the blockchain! Click on "Deposit" on the right side of your screen, copy the address and paste it on the send address in your Coinbase account. Now, just press send! After your Coins have reached your Binance wallet (which can take some time, so please be patient!) go to the exchange and look for the Crypto Currency you would like to purchase, then buy however many you want.
HitBTC Exchange: Preferably you will want to use Binance as your exchange, as its fees are slightly lower, but with a large influx of users recently, they have disabled any new users allowed on their exchange for the time being. Until then, your best bet would be to trade on HitBTC.com. In order to send your cryptocurrencies to HitBTC.com, first start by registering, and I suggest you using 2FA to keep your account more secure. This can be done by downloading the app "Authy", and securing your account through a mobile device or the Google Chrome extension on your computer. To send cryptos to your account you need to click on "Deposit" on the top right corner, and find the corresponding crypto you purchased, or already have in an exchange. Click on "deposit" which is in the column to the right of the coin, and select "Create New". This will create a wallet address for your coin to send to. Copy that address (which should be a bunch of random numbers and letters), and go back to Coinbase, or your exchange you currently have cryptos in, and paste this in the send address. On Coinbase you can send your crypto by going to "Accounts", and going to your cryptocurrency you would like to send. Select "Send", paste the wallet address, and send it. If the blockchain is busy, it can take a fairly long time for it to arrive! Please be patient. If you did all these steps correctly it will arrive.
Disclaimer: When investing money into cryptocurrencies, they can be extremely volatile so you do not want to invest any money that you can not afford to lose! Also, make sure you do research on your investment before making any purchases!