How to buy your first $100 of Bitcoin — the complete beginner's walkthrough

For a first $100, you want simple and regulated, not cheap and exotic. Our pick for beginners is Coinbase — but the honest move is using its Advanced Trade screen, which cuts the fee on $100 from ~$3.84 to ~$0.60. Compare all four we recommend →

Every regulated exchange requires ID — driver's license or passport, plus a selfie. This is KYC, it's normal, and it's the law in the US. Approval is usually minutes, occasionally a day.

This is the biggest fee trap. A debit-card buy costs ~2–4% instantly; an ACH bank transfer is free on every exchange we recommend. The trade-off is a few days' wait — for a first buy, take the free option.

Use a market order for $100 — limit orders matter later, not today. You'll receive roughly {{ btcAmount }} BTC at today's price of {{ price }}. Yes, you can buy a fraction — everyone does. The unit for small amounts is sats: your $100 is about {{ satsAmount }} of them.

Before anything else: turn on 2FA with an authenticator app (not SMS), and write the recovery codes on paper. Most "my bitcoin got stolen" stories are account takeovers on day one, not exchange hacks.

$100 can stay on a regulated exchange while you learn — that's a reasonable choice at this size. The rule of thumb: once your stack is worth more than a hardware wallet (~$150), it's time to consider self-custody. Our self-custody guide walks the withdrawal step-by-step, and low-fee windows (check the Blockchain page) make it cost pennies.

Is $100 even worth it?

Yes — the point of a first $100 is learning the mechanics with stakes small enough to sleep on. Everything you learn transfers exactly to larger amounts.

Should I wait for the price to drop?

Nobody can time it — not us, not anyone. The common approach for beginners is dollar-cost averaging: a small fixed buy on a schedule, price ignored.

What about taxes?

Buying is not a taxable event in the US; selling or spending is. Keep the purchase receipt (exchanges provide history exports) — our tax guide covers what's taxable and what records to keep.

ETF or real bitcoin?

If you want price exposure inside a brokerage or IRA and never plan to hold keys, an ETF is simpler. If you want bitcoin you can actually withdraw and control, buy the real thing — this guide.