Chia Trading | Tutorial & Brokers

Founded in 2017, Chia (XCH) is an emerging crypto coin making news headlines. Major digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have an energy-intensive mining process where the Chia network takes an environmentally friendly approach to farming. This tutorial will explain how Chia works, its benefits, plus where to start buying and selling XCH.

Chia Explained

The Chia network was created in 2017 by Bram Cohen, inventor of a file-sharing system called BitTorrent. Chia was designed to tackle the energy-intensive Proof of Work and Proof of Stake models that major cryptocurrencies use. Instead of requiring massive amounts of computing power, Chia relies on unused storage space on hard disk drives. This energy-efficient method of verifying transactions is called Proof of Space and Time.

According to Coinmarketcap, XCH has a current market cap value of over $800 million.

Chia was made available for trading on Monday 3rd May 2021. It opened at $1,600 per unit followed by an all-time high of $1,800. However, it’s since dropped down to less than $600 though its price is slowly rising again.

How Chia Works

The Chia network runs on a Proof of Space and Time consensus method. Proof of Space is a cryptographic technique that enables network participants to prove that they have unused hard drive space over a period.

For XCH farming to work, users on the blockchain “seed” unused space by downloading farming software from the network’s website, known as a mining rig.

Proof of Space is tied to Proof of Time. It ensures that block times have consistency, which increases the overall security of the Chia blockchain. Farmers increase their chances of winning a block by obtaining greater storage space. After the farmer’s obtained sufficient space, they use a farming rig or pool such as Raspberry Pi to plot the coin.

The Chia blockchain runs on a programming language called Chialisp for easy-to-audit on-chain smart transactions. Once the company goes public, the blockchain will also use pre-farm strategic reserves to ease the coin’s volatility so that it can be a reliable form of payment.

Benefits

• Eco-friendly – Crypto mining requires costly single-use hardware that takes massive amounts of electricity. In contrast, Chia farming leverages existing hard disk space. Once you’ve farmed storage, it can then be repurposed for storing other files.
• Early volatility – Like other new cryptocurrencies, the XCH coin has experienced great volatility since it began trading. Longer-term investors may benefit from low prices before its value picks up and potentially stabilises. Day traders can capitalise on intraday price movements.
• Atomic swaps – The Chia network allows for atomic swaps. Peer-to-peer trading via smart contracts eliminates the need for third parties and reduces the transaction costs required on an exchange.
• Rewards – Farmers can receive rewards for helping secure the blockchain. After downloading the node software and plotting is complete, the software tracks your rewards for you. Farming rewards include 64 XCH every 10 minutes.
• Security – Chia’s blockchain claims to have significantly better security than Bitcoin due to its unique decentralised blockchain. It runs on Chialisp, which is a new smart transaction programming language that also increases security.

Drawbacks

• Hard-drive prices – In China, prices for hard drives have soared, with many sold out as people stockpile storage. In fact, the amount of storage space used by the Chia network has passed a whopping 1 exbibyte. Users may struggle to get enough storage required to farm. Some have even reported that their wallet has not synced when computer capacity is low.
• New – XCH has only recently started trading. There is limited historical price data for technical analysis. With its unpredictable price swings, we are yet to see if and how the Chia coin will stabilise.
• Volatility – The XCH coin is not intended as a long-term investment vehicle but rather as a viable global financial payments system. The Chia coin plans to become a public company. This will allow financial institutions to hedge and leverage coins and equity. The company will use strategic reserves to reduce volatility. This may limit the profit potential for day traders and longer-term investors.
• Purchasing – Currently, XCH can’t be purchased with traditional fiat money i.e. USD or GBP. You can only buy Chia tokens using other cryptocurrencies, such as Tether or Bitcoin. As a result, purchasing XCH is more suited to experienced traders.

How To Start Buying & Selling Chia

To get started trading Chia, follow these simple steps:

Pick An Exchange

First, you will need to buy XCH coins. You can purchase tokens on several global exchanges, including Gate.io and OKEx. Unfortunately, it is not available on major exchanges like Coinbase or Binance currently. You should consider factors such as transaction charges and analysis tools when picking a broker to start trading with.

Once you’ve purchased coins, you will need to store them in a digital wallet. This is much safer than keeping them on the exchange as you don’t own or control the coins or private keys. Furthermore, you may lose your tokens if an exchange were to be hacked.

Choose A Trading Strategy

You will need to decide on your preferred strategy for trading Chia. Here are a few techniques to consider:

• Day trading – As it’s a new crypto coin, day traders can make use of Chia’s relatively volatile price swings. According to Coinmarketcap, the 24-hour price change can be as high as 49%. As the value of new cryptos can fluctuate quickly, traders should utilise risk management techniques.
• News trading – There is a strong correlation between news announcements and changes in the price of cryptos. Traders can use market sentiment to decide whether it’s a good time to buy or sell Chia. As XCH continues to progress, traders can respond to news-driven market shifts.
• Farming – If you are experienced in cryptocurrencies and have a large amount of computer or hard drive storage, you may opt to farm the crypto. You can acquire Chia at a low cost and then sell XCH on exchanges to generate profits. There are online coin calculators that estimate how much you can earn from farming Chia.

Should You Start Trading Chia?

Major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are receiving backlash for their environmental impact. However, Chia offers a disruptive and sustainable method to verifying transactions through the Proof of Space consensus. Thus, the network offers a promising decentralised finance solution. With early volatility, it’s also a great option to add to your trading portfolio. Head to a crypto exchange today to start trading Chia.

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