How To Buy Ethereum in the UK

Looking to buy Ethereum? In the cryptocurrency world, Ethereum is the second largest coin after Bitcoin. Many investors believe that ETH will continue to grow because of the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. After a sudden drop in price below $900 in June of 2022, the price quickly recovered and reached back above $1000.

Is it time to buy the ETH dip? We find out below. We also review several cryptocurrency exchanges that UK residents are accepted at. At these exchanges, you can buy Ethereum using credit cards, PayPal, and more. If you’re looking to invest in Ethereum, we recommend using eToro. It’s regulated by the UK FCA and has a good reputation for being beginner-friendly.

As of July 2022, Ethereum has a market capitalisation of over £150 billion, making it the second most valuable form of cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.

Similarly to other digital currencies, Ethereum has taken a hit from the recent crypto market crash. In the past year, Ethereum has had a high of $3,636 and a low of $733. The value of Bitcoin is estimated to be around £1,200 in July 2022.

If you want to buy Ether, otherwise known as the Ethereum token, here’s what you need to do. Ethereum is a platform that the token powers, and it is more commonly associated with the token than the official name.

Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose. cryptocurrency investment is a speculative investment and all of your capital is at risk. Therefore, only invest an amount that you are comfortable losing. You could lose some or all of your money.

If you trade cryptocurrency in the UK, you are not protected by any compensation schemes if something goes wrong.

Buying Ethereum

Investing in Ethereum may be easier than you think. Here’s how to get started in just five steps:

1. Determine Your Level Of Risk

You’re taking a gamble if you buy Ethereum. Cryptocurrencies are especially vulnerable to price fluctuations compared to other investments that have some risk associated with them. When Tesla boss, Elon Musk, tweeted last year that his company would no longer accept Bitcoin as payment, the coin’s value tumbled 15%. This just goes to show how much of an impact a couple hundred characters can have on crypto pricing.

Although Ethereum has had impressive returns in the past, it has also had some significant crashes, sometimes in astonishingly short amounts of time. The value of a Bitcoin dropped more than 50% in value in one month, going from almost £3,000 per coin to less than £1,300. That’s some pretty extreme volatility.

It is important to take into account how much risk you are willing to take on, as well as the stability and variety of the rest of your investments, before buying Ether. You should never invest more money in cryptocurrency than you can afford to lose.

2. Choose A Crypto Exchange

You can’t just buy Ether through your brokerage account like you would buy shares or collective investment funds. It’s a little more complicated than that. Cryptocurrencies aren’t traded on major exchanges like the London or New York Stock Exchanges. Many brokerages also don’t offer crypto investing.

In order to buy cryptocurrency, you must first create an account on a cryptocurrency exchange. In practical terms, it is very similar to the brokerage platforms with which you may be more familiar. Crypto exchanges allow buyers and sellers to exchange traditional fiat currencies, such as pounds and dollars, for cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Bitcoin, or Dogecoin.

Featured Cryptocurrency Partner

Before you choose a cryptocurrency exchange, check out our list of the best exchanges to find the one that fits you best. The majority of exchanges have a simplified interface that is designed for beginners, even though it may charge higher fees than the main trading platform.

Some important things to keep in mind when choosing a cryptocurrency exchange are whether or not the exchange offers a wallets to store your investments, and how secure the exchange is. If the majority of people have something, but you don’t, then you will need to get your own.

If you have no experience with investing, you can use platforms like Robinhood or Cash App. Although this will make buying crypto much easier for you, it comes at a cost that is not initially obvious: you will not be able to withdraw your Ethereum investment to put it in a different wallet or use it to pay for online purchases.

If you buy crypto on one of these platforms, you will only be able to trade it within that platform. To hold Bitcoin in a separate wallet, you would need to sell it on the platform you bought it on and then buy it again on a cryptocurrency exchange.

3. Fund Your Account

You will not be able to buy Ethereum through a crypto exchange until you have funded your account. In most cases you will deposit money into your account from a bank. You can also use a debit card or deposit money from a payments provider.

Some credit card providers do not allow their cards to be used to purchase cryptocurrencies from exchanges, for example TSB, Virgin Money, and Tesco Bank. Some card providers may enable you to use your card to purchase cryptocurrency. However, be cautious of any fees they might charge for the transaction.

4. Buy Ethereum

The market hours limit investors who want to buy shares, collective/pooled funds, or exchange-traded funds. The London Stock Exchange operates between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, and is closed on weekends and bank holidays.

Cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum work very differently. Decentralised currencies can be bought and sold at any time.

In order to purchase Ethereum, you must enter the ETH ticker symbol in the “buy” field of your exchange. The amount of Ethereum you want to purchase can be inputted in this field as well. If you don’t want to purchase a whole Ethereum token, you can buy a fraction of one. If the price of Ethereum is £2,000 and you invest £100, you will be purchasing 5% of an Ether coin.

5. Store Your Ethereum

After buying Ethereum, you need to store it in acryptocurrency wallet. Some people choose to store their crypto investments themselves instead of using a platform in order to reduce the chance that they will lose their investment to a hack.

It is understandable that people are worried about their cryptocurrency being stolen, however it is important to know that most big exchanges insure their clients’ holdings and often keep most of their assets offline to prevent large scale theft. Exchanges that have been hacked in the past have always reimbursed any losses that their users have incurred.

But if you want peace of mind surrounding your crypto, you can choose to move it to one of two types of third-party wallets:

Hot Wallet: A hot wallet is connected to the internet and can be accessed from a computer or smartphone. They’re convenient and are usually provided by cryptocurrency exchange platforms at no additional cost, though you can also use your own if you’d prefer having your crypto off of the exchange. However, because they’re still connected to the internet, they’re at a higher risk of security breaches.
Cold Wallet: Cold wallets, meanwhile, are external devices completely disconnected from the internet. Depending on the type you choose, they usually cost between £30 and £150, though there are even more expensive versions available. While cold wallets are less convenient than hot wallets – you have to manually connect them to the internet each time you want to access your crypto – they’re safer and may make sense if you own a significant amount of Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies.

Selling Ethereum

To sell Ethereum, go to a crypto exchange and enter the amount you want to sell.

If you plan to sell a large amount of cryptocurrency, it may be a good idea to speak with a tax specialist first. If you sell cryptocurrency, you may have to pay capital gains tax.

Where to Buy Ethereum in the UK

Where is the best place to buy cryptocurrency in the UK at the moment? You will need to decide whether to buy through a broker or an exchange.

We review top broker eToro and five reputable best crypto exchanges UK:

1. eToro – Overall Best Place to Buy Ethereum with Tight Spreads

27m+ investors have already signed up with eToro. But is eToro the best place to buy Ethereum? Certainly with eToro, you can spend as little as $10 on Ethereum with only tight spreads charged on crypto trades. That’s a low-risk way for beginners to get started. And, when it comes to managing risk, eToro offers regulation by the stringent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK. The broker is also regulated by ASIC of Australia and CySEC of Cyprus.

You can deposit funds into your account and buy as much Ethereum as you want in what is known as a ‘spot trade’. This is the simplest way. You buy the crypto and eToro will store it for you for free. You can then sell it back to eToro when you judge the time is right. Or you can transfer your Ethereum to your free eToro Money crypto wallet and use your ETH to pay for things.
You can invest in the price of Ethereum vs. another crypto or fiat currency. This is called trading ‘pairs.’ This method is favoured by investors with some experience. You can invest in Ethereum pairs with crypto XLM, BTC and EOS. Fiat pairs are available for Ethereum with EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD, NZD, CHF.

With eToro’s free CopyTrader function, you can let more experienced traders take the tough decisions on your behalf. With CopyTrader there are 600+ traders you can copy who trade in crypto. You can browse through their performance stats and risk ratings and then pick one (or many) to copy. Allocate funds, and CopyTrader will automatically copy their trades in real time.

You can invest in any of eToro’s 8 crypto Smart Portfolios. These are strategic positions designed by eToro experts that you can buy into in one go. The DeFi Smart Portfolio, for example, features a 28% holding in Ethereum and has delivered a healthy return of 38% in the last 12 months. DeFi means ‘Decentralised Finance’. The DeFi Smart Portfolio invests in crypto used in DeFi applications.

You can buy up to 70 different cryptocurrencies on eToro. You can buy XRP, ETH, DOGE, SHIB, and more safely in 2022. More are added regularly. In January of 2022, SNX, REN, and FET will be joining the eToro crypto range. eToro is also known for its broad selection of other assets besides crypto, including stocks, 250+ ETFs, commodities and indices.

What about freebies? The eToro Money crypto wallet is a free and convenient way to manage all of your digital assets in one place. With a blockchain address, you will never lose your key, and you will have the ability to send, receive, and exchange funds easily.

2. Huobi – Top-Rated Crypto Exchange with 4M Users

Huobi was founded as a crypto exchange in 2013 in China. It is now headquartered in the Seychelles with offices in Japan, Korea and Singapore. Huobi was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018.

While Huobi is based in Asia-Pacific, it is still a good choice when deciding where to buy Ethereum in the UK. But hang in there! Huobi is in third place for cryptocurrency trading activity and has many useful features. Huobi provides 348 cryptocurrencies with 60 payment options worldwide.

If you make unwise investment choices, regulation will not save you from financial ruin, but it does mean that you are dealing with a reputable business. Some internet exchanges are not regulated, which can make trading difficult and risky.

This means that Huobi will support users who want to stake their Ethereum during the upcoming upgrade. At least 0.1 BETH (the equity token for ETH 2.0 staking) is needed. Aside from crypto financing options like liquidity pools, savings, and loans, there are other ways to finance your activity.

Huobi is the only ETH vendor we reviewed that offers a joining incentive. If you sign up and complete some easy tasks, you can get up to $300 and 20,000 Shiba Inu crypto coins (SHIB).

To ensure security, Huobi keeps most of its client funds in cold storage, similar to Coinbase. The system also has a HKD50,000 scheme to reward users for reporting fraudulent use. This project is called the Huobi Trading Protection and Guardian Project.

Overall Huobi offers a range of powerful crypto options. A disadvantage of this exchange is that it is not as transparent as its competitors when it comes to its fee structures. It does not have the same level of regulation as eToro. There are many things to recommend to investors who are willing to take risks.

Pros

Trading Protection and Guardian Project
Instant buy ETH with credit card
Cash incentives for sign-up
Numerous financing options, including ETH 2.0 staking
Cold storage security

Cons

Not regulated
Orientated to Asia Pacific payment methods

You can buy Ethereum in the UK in 4 ways with eToro.

3. Crypto.com – Best Exchange to Buy Ethereum for Beginners

If you’re looking to buy Ethereum in the UK, Crypto.com is a highly recommended platform. Crypto.com has millions of global users and allows trade in over 150 cryptocurrencies. The Crypto.com platform consists of two parts: the exchange and the mobile app. The first option is better for experienced investors, while the second option is better for people who are investing more casually.

The only fee charged when buying Ethereum on an exchange is the maker/taker fee. This means that if you trade less than $25,000 per month, you will pay 0.4% for each position. This means that if you pay your trading fees in CRO, you will only be charged 0.36% instead of the usual 0.4%. If you use the Crypto.com app, you can buy ETH (and other cryptos) using a credit or debit card.

This feature does not have any fees for the first 30 days, but it will cost 2.99% per trade after that. If you’d rather make a deposit and then purchase, Crypto.com supports both FIAT and cryptocurrency deposits. Both account types on the site can be created for free, and UK-based traders can make instant GBP deposits via Faster Payments.

The app makes buying digital currencies very easy, as users can do it with just a few taps. Although the price charts aren’t as detailed as on some other platforms, there is still real-time price data and in-depth portfolio statistics. Secure storage is a high priority for Crypto.com, which is why they keep 98% of customer holdings in cold storage. They also have a $750 million crypto reserve fund to cover any unexpected needs.

Should I Buy Ethereum?

There are currently over 116 billion Ethereum coins in investors’ hands. Even though Bitcoin is one of the more famous cryptocurrencies, it might not be the best option for you.

If you want to buy an investment like Ether that can go up or down a lot in value, make sure you know what you’re doing and have your finances in order. The perfect situation would be to have a lot of money saved up for unexpected expenses, no debt, and a well-organized retirement plan. Even if your investments are doing well, it’s important to spread your money around, so you shouldn’t put all of your money into Ethereum or other cryptocurrencies.