How to trade bitcoins using a smart phone!

This is what the Coinbase app looks like on an iPhone.

When you first open the app, you're presented with the latest price of bitcoin and its change within a certain period. You can see in the chart below how wild the latest moves have been.

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I happen to be one of the many who have never traded bitcoin before. There's a certain level of wariness in buying into the cryptocurrency world.

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However, Coinbase's interface makes it simple to enter the basic personal information it needs to create your account.

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User-friendliness quickly hit a snag. When I put in my address, the app didn't recognize I had already selected it from the autofill menu. I couldn't proceed unless I switched to the desktop app.

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So switch I did. From the desktop portal I could easily enter more identifying info.

The final step before entering my financial information was two-step verification for security, which Coinbase quickly sent to my phone.

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I decided to give the app another try and opted to use my debit card to buy the bitcoin.

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Entering all my information was just as straightforward as everything else. The problem was that I couldn't exit this screen. Neither the "buy" nor "not now" option registered. I had to press the X and start all over.

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Ultimately, and frustratingly, it was back to the desktop. So far, the actual process of buying bitcoin was simple — the app itself was my only nemesis. My $50 ended up buying 0.0524 of one bitcoin.

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No looking back! (Until I sell, of course.)

Oh. It appeared the price was falling pretty fast the morning I decided to buy. I went back to try again, doing my best to outrun the falling price.

I own bitcoin! Well, a small fraction of a bitcoin. But now this means I could sit on my hypothetical tiny pile of cryptocurrency and hope it amasses value.![]

Instead, I decide to sell off immediately. (But not before shedding a single tear for the 12 cents I've already had to part with.)![](

To sell the bitcoin, Coinbase only allows users to pair their bank account with the app; a credit or debit card won't suffice.

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