This depends on many factors, but you can still determine it nonetheless. Here's how you can do it.

Which cryptocurrency?

First, remind yourself which cryptocurrency you will be buying or choose one if you haven't decided yet. Here are the most popular types of cryptocurrency to choose from:

• Bitcoin: Abbreviated as BTC, Bitcoin is probably the most popular of all the cryptocurrencies. You can purchase it almost anywhere.
• Bitcoin Cash: Abbreviated as BCH, Bitcoin Cash was only launched in 2017 and has since become pretty widespread.
• Litecoin: Abbreviated as LTC, Litecoin is only two years younger than Bitcoin and is quite well-known as well.
• Ethereum: Abbreviated as ETH, Ethereum could be primarily found on the platform of the same name.

There is no right or wrong cryptocurrency to buy, so consider all your options and make a choice you will be satisfied with.

Why are you buying it?

The next thing you should do is think of why you are buying the cryptocurrency you chose. Consider what you will be doing after you purchase the cryptocurrency. Are you going to sell it? Or maybe you will be donating it or gifting it to someone?

This point is very important as it will decide your further actions. You must know what goals you are pursuing so that you can find the best means to achieve them. Besides, some cryptocurrencies might have technical restrictions that will prevent you from doing what you want to do.

Remember that the cryptocurrency market is constantly evolving and changing. For instance, there’s this new concept of stablecoin being developed that may be the next big thing in the world of cryptocurrencies.

“Stablecoin initiatives are developing at a rapid pace. Adoption of stablecoin, a form of collateralized cryptocurrency pegged to a stable fiat currency like the yen or dollar are being debated by central banks,” says Robert Anazalone, an expert on cryptocurrencies.

What is your financial situation?

You are probably aware that some cryptocurrencies are more expensive than others, so if you are on a budget, you probably won't be able to buy them. You have to take into account your financial situation before going online and looking for your cryptocurrency.

“Due to the limitations placed on capacity, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum see higher transaction fees when the networks become congested,” writes Kyle Torpey, a writer and a specialist on Bitcoin, in an article for Forbes.

At the same time, this point is directly tied up with the next one as the current state of the market will influence the price of your chosen cryptocurrency. Sometimes, even a usually cheap currency may cost more due to the fluctuations in the market. This can also influence what you will be buying and when.

What is the current state of the market?

Last but not least, think of the current state of the market. Research and read about what is going on so that you are aware of the situation and clearly know what you are doing. Analyze the data you collect and decide whether or not it's the right time to buy cryptocurrency.

You should be conducting such research and analysis regularly so that you can determine the best time for buying your chosen type of cryptocurrency.

Clem Chambers, the CEO of private investors website ADVFN.com and author of Be Rich, The Game in Wall Street and Trading Cryptocurrencies: A Beginner’s Guide, says: “Market timing is incredibly difficult, especially in a hugely volatile asset like bitcoin.”

Final Thoughts

To sum up, try to be skeptical of what you read online when someone is claiming that it is the right time to buy cryptocurrency. Read and research or seek help from a professional adviser to understand when is the right time to buy and which cryptocurrency to choose.

This was authored by digital marketing executive Cynthia Young .

More and more institutional investors are starting to invest in cryptocurrencies. As they do, the issue of crypto custody and how it fits within their existing workflows and regulatory requirements becomes a bigger and bigger issue. While a range of approaches are currently being used, everyone wants a better solution. Below David Wills, Co-Founder and COO of Caspian , reveals more.

Since the beginning of last year, cryptocurrencies have surged in popularity, usability, and, most importantly, value. While crypto markets have historically been dominated by individual investors, institutional investors have only recently joined the fray. However, with two Chicago-based commodity exchanges, Cboe and CME, launching the first regulated Bitcoin futures contracts at the end of last year, this new wave of involvement is growing.

As it does, the issue of crypto custody, which is essentially how an investor’s digital assets are stored and ‘kept safe’, gains more attention. In traditional markets, years of regulation have meant that organisations and mature systems, such as the broker/dealer relationship or future commission merchants, have developed for this purpose. In the world of cryptocurrencies, such institutions are only just being imagined or established and they are doing so against the grey area of crypto regulation.

Which begs the question, what solutions are institutional investors using now and are any of them good enough to survive for the long term?

Crypto custody as it exists today

While specific solutions for institutional investors are appearing with greater frequency by the day, they are normally a combination of established crypto storage practices. After all, much of the risk associated with holding and trading cryptocurrencies come from the fact that they are digital assets, which are as vulnerable as an individual’s personal online security measures.

This means that individual institutions are dealing with the same issues of hot storage on exchanges, which enables speed of trading, and cold storage offline, which means increased security of the digital assets held. One option that combines the benefits of both approaches for institutional investors is vault storage. In this scenario, the risk of hot storage is reduced because an exchange creates a private key offline, making it easy to send purchased cryptocurrency to the public address but much less easy to move it from the account using the private key.

Such solutions are being utilised in order to find the right combination of security and efficiency that institutional investors need. For the most part, they are using a diversified combination of hot and cold storage in combination with multi signature wallets and monitored concentration limits to mitigate risk.

As one can imagine though, this is still not the ideal solution for experienced investors used to a mature toolkit that has been optimised to make regulatory compliant trading as quick and easy as possible within a regulated fiat environment.

Solutions for the future

Innovation and consolidation in the area of crypto custody are occurring in parallel, signalling what the future direction of the solution might look like.

As mentioned, crypto funds are already providing a variety of custody solutions for institutional investors, including insurance, and this consultative approach will continue.

In addition, established crypto players are developing their own custody offers to attract the more security conscious players entering the market, either through internal innovation or acquisition. BitGo’s recent acquisition of digital asset custodian Kingdom Trust, which holds more than $12 billion in assets, is a recent example of the latter and it would not be surprising to see crypto exchanges making similar purchases to boost their offer.

On the technological side, recent innovations like the Glacier Protocol suggest that the development of blockchain-focused solutions will also play their part. Although designed for personal, long-term storage itself, the development of similar protocols to solve the problems of institutional investors would not be a surprise.

FInally, the role of the regulator cannot be ignored here. Institutional investors utilise custody solutions in the traditional fiat world that have been designed around the frameworks laid out by regulators. We already know that the SEC has kicked off a consultation with over 100 crypto funds, during which custodianship will undoubtedly be covered.

While a single solution has not yet revealed itself, as more and more regulated institutions enter the crypto space, more regulatory frameworks will be established, more solutions to fit this need will appear and the picture will become much clearer.