I get quite a few questions about this Bitcoin stuff. Like, “How does it work, this digital currency?” Or “How is it more than two thousand bucks for one coin?” Or “How is there so much value placed in something that you can’t even hold on to?”

More recently, I get some other questions. Like, “What the heck are you talking about?” Or “Dude, slow it down just a little.”

There’s a bit of a “rabbit hole” element to this cryptocurrency space – it’s a rabbit hole that I went down last year and really haven’t totally came back up from. And it’s a rabbit hole that got me to make this video:

Yes, it might be over some folks’ heads. Sorry about that.

So, since we all gotta start somewhere, I give you this, the quickest of quick-start guides out there:

3 Ways to Get Started with Bitcoin Today

(1) Thing one is to actually get some of the currency. You can get Bitcoin – that’s the gold standard thing that started this whole space – or one of the other main currencies.

We recommend starting at Coinbase, and we especially recommend using this AFFILIATE LINK to get some. (In this case, the affiliate link will actually give YOU a bonus of $10 worth of Bitcoin if you buy $100 worth of any of the three currencies they offer, which are Bitcoin (it goes by the symbol “BTC”), Ethereum (ETH), or Litecoin (LTC).)

What’s beautiful is that you can get started with a tiny, tiny amount. Got ten bucks? Use the $10 bucks to dip your toes in the water. You will pay a small transaction fee, but, if you were to try to spend $10 on some stock through your online broker, you’d spend probably that much per trade.

(2) Spread yourself out at least a little. (This is not trading advice, consult your investment professional, not responsible for gains or losses.) A recommended approach is to split your initial investment between two coins – Bitcoin and Ethereum – or three coins, adding Litecoin to the mix.

When I started, I started with just BTC and ETH. What I did next is what I’ll recommend for you:

(3) Hang out and watch the space. This means not just reading blogs like this one, CoinTelegraph, and Bitcoin.com, but also looking at the numbers sites and trading platforms to understand what is going on.

Numbers sites? Coinmarketcap.com is our favorite. Coindesk.com is another. These sites cover the numbers of the whole space, and will give you a sense of which coins are trending up or down, as well as the all-important “market capitalization” of each coin.

(You will hear about ICOs, and Smith and Crown does a really good job of tracking those – but you may not be looking for that much granular detail just yet.)

The trading sites make it easy for you to get started actually trading – almost TOO easy, perhaps. Suggestion: go to Poloniex, Kraken, or Bitfinex to take a look at what’s happening. See what’s moving, what isn’t, what’s being traded, and how much it’s trading for.

You may be tempted to play around and do some trading, but you’ll probably want to understand the space much more before you try to make money at it. (Trust us on this one.)

There it is. A 3-Step Plan.

That’s how we suggest you get started. Once you’re ready for the next step, then you can dive much deeper. But if you’re a newbie – and remember, even the experts started somewhere – this will help you get acclimated to the wonderful – crazy, scary, thrilling, but, yes, wonderful – world of cryptocurrency. And Bitcoin.