The first time on Binance, what wears people down isn't that any one step is hard — it's not knowing how many steps there are in total, or where you are in them. You open the sign-up page, enter your email, and then you're asked to set up two-factor auth, upload an ID, link a payment method… each step feels like it appeared out of nowhere, and you're left uneasy, scared you missed something or filled in something you can't change.

This piece lays the whole path out for you at once: from sign-up to actually owning your first coin, how many gates there are, what each one is for, which settings can't be changed once you enter them, and which traps are set specifically for beginners. Follow along and you basically won't get stuck. Anywhere specific numbers come up (fee rates, limits, confirmation times) I'll remind you to go by what Binance's page shows at the time, because the platform adjusts these and hard-coding a figure would only mislead you. When you hit a word you don't know (spot, futures, private key, gas), just flip to the beginner glossary — no need to memorize it all before you start.

1. Before you start: see how many segments this path has

Break the whole process apart, and going from "nothing at all" to "I'm holding my first coin" is just five segments plus a wrap-up:

  • Sign up: open an account with an email — and enter the invite code while you're at it.
  • Security settings: turn on two-factor auth, set an anti-phishing code. Lots of people skip this and only regret it after something goes wrong.
  • Identity verification (KYC): upload your ID, pass a face check. Skip this and deposits and withdrawals basically won't work later.
  • Deposit: turn ordinary money into something the platform can use, usually USDT.
  • Buy your first spot order: use your USDT to buy a bit of a major coin and confirm it arrived.
  • Wrap-up: read the fee on that trade, and remember the red line — "no futures right now."

One small note on order: security settings and verification are worth doing as early as possible. Plenty of people sign up on impulse and head straight for buying, only to get blocked at the deposit or purchase step by "please complete identity verification first" or "please enable two-factor auth first," then have to backtrack. Far easier to just do them in order from the start.

There's one thing worth settling even earlier: which exchange you use is itself a decision. This piece assumes you've chosen Binance — it's large, deep, and has plenty of beginner material, which is where many people start. But if you're still weighing a few platforms, read our piece on how a normal person picks a crypto exchange first, settle that most-important first step, and then come back and open an account by the flow.

2. Step 1: Create an account (email + invite code + password)

Sign-up itself is quick, but three small details decide how much grief you'll save yourself later.

1. Use an email you actually use and control well

Sign-up needs an email (a phone number works too, but email is more universal). Pick one you've used long-term and fully control — this is the address that'll receive login codes, withdrawal confirmations and security alerts. Don't use a shared work mailbox or a throwaway you'll forget the moment you create it. It's also worth turning on two-factor auth for the email itself, since it's one of the roots of your whole account's security.

2. Enter the invite code at sign-up — you only get one shot

This is the step beginners most often come to regret. Signing up through someone's invite code means part of your trading fees gets rebated — a discount you set once at sign-up and that keeps applying; there's no reason to leave it on the table. The catch: Binance generally only lets you bind a referrer during sign-up, and afterward you basically can't change it. So if you sign up without entering a code, that discount is essentially gone for good.

The sign-up page has an "invite / referral code" field
Expand it and enter our invite code BN0128, and your trading fees get discounted — up to 20% off Binance fees. This can only be entered at sign-up and can't be changed once bound, so don't miss it.

* The final rate is whatever Binance shows on its page; the perk comes from registering through our invite code and adds nothing to your cost.

Sign up with the invite code

3. A strong password, not reused anywhere else

This is where your money sits — don't cut corners on the password. Here's a standard you can follow: a dozen-plus characters, a mix of upper and lower case, numbers and symbols, and not the same as your email or any other site's password. The safest approach is to have a password manager generate and store it — a random long password no human can remember is exactly the most secure kind. Why "long and unique" beats "complex but short" is easy to see: when someone runs a credential-stuffing attack, a reused password leaked elsewhere takes you down here too. A strong password alone isn't enough, though; account security also rests on a second layer, two-factor auth — for the concept, see Investopedia's explainer on two-factor authentication (2FA).

One reminderAlways enter through an address you've verified yourself; don't click links sent by strangers or "official sign-up links" posted in chat groups. Fake sign-up pages are a favorite scammer trick — they look identical to the real thing, and whatever password you type goes straight into someone else's pocket. How to spot fake entry points and fake support, we cover separately in how to spot fake apps and fake support.

3. Step 2: Get your security settings right once

Once the account exists, don't rush to buy. Spend a few minutes getting your security settings right — those few minutes may save you from a big headache down the line. The vast majority of hacked accounts aren't breaches of the platform; they're cases where the user never set up this line of defense.

1. Two-factor auth: prefer an authenticator app, don't rely on SMS alone

Two-factor auth (2FA) means a password alone isn't enough — logging in or withdrawing also needs a code that changes constantly. It's the key barrier against account theft. It comes in two common forms:

  • Authenticator app (recommended): such as Google Authenticator or Authy. It generates a new six-digit code on your phone every few dozen seconds, fully offline — without your phone, no one can get the code.
  • SMS codes: the code is sent to your phone number. Convenient, but clearly weaker — there's the risk of SIM-swap and intercepted texts, and in crypto these attacks aren't rare.

The takeaway is plain: turn on the authenticator app first. Both on is safer still, but at least don't leave your account running on SMS alone. When you bind the authenticator app, the system gives you a backup key (a string of letters and numbers) — be sure to write it down and store it offline; if you ever lose your phone, that's what restores access. The setup entry and recovery method are documented in Binance's help center; once you're done, our security track goes deeper on how to set up 2FA, anti-phishing codes and withdrawal whitelists.

2. Set an anti-phishing code

The anti-phishing code is a small feature many people overlook, but it's handy. In your security settings you set a short phrase only you know, and afterward every official email Binance sends you carries that phrase. That way, any "Binance email" without your code can basically be judged fake. Scammers can fake the look of an email, but not a code you set privately. Spend a minute on it and you'll have a hard test for spotting phishing emails from then on.

Don't put these two off"I'll set it up later when I have time" is a leading cause of trouble. Two-factor auth and the anti-phishing code both take a few minutes and keep working long-term once set. Doing them while you're still in sign-up mode beats scrambling to fix things after your account has a problem.

4. Step 3: Identity verification, and how to pass first try

Identity verification, called KYC (Know Your Customer) in English, is simply the platform confirming "you are who you say you are." It needs you to upload an ID and do a one-time face check.

Why this step is required

Plenty of beginners hesitate the moment they're asked to upload an ID: won't that leak my privacy? Can I skip it? The reality is: reputable exchanges now generally require completed verification before you can fully use the features — deposits and withdrawals especially. Without it you may not even be able to buy your first coin, and even if you do, you likely can't withdraw or cash out. This is a compliance requirement that countries impose on crypto platforms, not Binance singling you out, and there's no way around it; the specifics are in the Binance help center. Rather than seeking out a so-called "verification service" (that's the real risk — your ID details could be used for harm), just do it honestly yourself.

How to pass first try without getting rejected

Verification getting bounced is almost always a photo problem. Do the following and you'll generally pass on the first go:

  • Use your own, valid, real ID, with details matching exactly the name you registered with.
  • Even lighting, no glare: don't shoot under harsh light; the text and photo on the ID should be clear and readable, all four corners in frame, nothing cropped.
  • No re-shoots or screenshots: photograph the physical document directly, not an ID photo shown on a screen.
  • For the face check: find a well-lit spot, take off your hat and sunglasses, and follow the prompts to turn your head and blink — don't move too fast.

After submitting, you usually wait for system review, which can take minutes or sit in a queue a bit longer — just be patient and don't keep resubmitting. If it's bounced, the system generally tells you what didn't pass, so fix that and re-upload. For the most common reasons verification fails and exactly how to fix them, we wrote a separate piece, Binance verification failed — how to pass first try; check against it if you're stuck.

5. Step 4: Deposit — turn money into USDT

With verification done, the next thing is to put money into your account. But in the crypto world you can't take ordinary currency and buy Bitcoin directly — most trading pairs are priced in USDT (a stablecoin pegged roughly 1:1 to the US dollar; for the concept see Investopedia's explainer on stablecoins). So a deposit is essentially converting fiat into USDT first, and then using that USDT to buy whatever coin you want. What USDT actually is and how stable it is, we explain fully in what USDT is and why everything trades in it; here you only need to know it's your "cash" inside the platform.

There are several deposit methods, differing in cost and convenience. Here's just the broad picture; the details are in how to deposit on Binance:

  • P2P (user to user): you buy and sell USDT directly with other users, with the platform matching and escrowing. Binance generally doesn't charge an extra fee on this step; your cost is mostly hidden in the counterparty's quote. This is what beginners use most.
  • Third-party payment channels: more convenient, but usually with a noticeable service fee.
The deposit stage is where scammers love to strikeWhichever method you use, stay on the platform's built-in, escrowed flow and never do a "private transfer" off-platform with a stranger. The moment someone asks you to add them on a messaging app or pay outside the platform, you can be almost certain it's a scam — your money goes out, and the coins never come. On your first deposit, don't chase a few cents of savings; safety comes first.

For your first deposit, keep the amount small. Top up just enough to run through the flow, and once you've got the whole path working and confirmed every step is fine, then consider scaling up.

6. Step 5: Buy your first spot order

With USDT in your account, you've finally reached the buying step. This is about spot — cash for coin, the coin you buy is instantly yours, no leverage, no liquidation. It's the only form a beginner should touch.

Market order or limit order

On the spot trading page you'll see two main ways to place an order:

  • Market order: fills immediately at the best available market price. The upside is it's simple and you buy right away; the cost is you can't control the exact fill price, and it's usually a "taker" order (for the concept see Investopedia's explainer), with a slightly higher fee. For a beginner's first time, a market order is the least fuss.
  • Limit order: you set a price you want to buy at, and it only fills when the market reaches it. You control the price and the fee may be lower, but it might sit there unfilled for a long time. Use it once you're comfortable.

How to place this one order

Using a bit of a major coin as the example, the flow is roughly: on the spot trading page find the relevant pair (say a major coin against USDT) → choose "Buy" → choose "Market" → enter how much USDT you want to spend, or how many coins you want → tap confirm. For a market order, it basically fills instantly.

Reading "filled"

After placing the order, check "Orders" or your trade history. Once filled it'll show the fill price, the quantity, and a separate line for the fee. You'll notice the coins you received are slightly less than your mental math — that small gap is the fee, which is normal, not you getting fleeced. Now look in your "Assets / Wallet" and you should see the coin you just bought sitting there. Congratulations — your first coin has arrived.

For more detail on spot mechanics and the fundamental difference from futures, read on with the smallest possible steps to your first buy, a shorter, more hands-on piece.

7. Step 6: Read the fee on this trade

Right after your first buy, take a moment to understand the fee — one of the best habits a beginner can build. Fees are one of the few things in this market you can work out exactly and control completely — you can't predict the market, but a fee, set up right, quietly keeps saving you money.

Binance's base spot fee for ordinary users has long sat around 0.1% as an order of magnitude (maker orders may be lower); go by what the official Binance fee page shows at the time, since it varies with your tier, promotions, and whether you've enabled BNB deductions. In other words, buying $1,000 of a coin costs roughly $1 in fees. It doesn't look like much, but if you keep trading, every trade is charged proportionally, and it adds up.

Lowering fees comes down to two things, and they stack: one, entering an invite code at sign-up (you already entered BN0128 above), which rebates part of the trading fee; two, turning on "pay fees with BNB" on the trading page, which discounts this further. With both on, you save the most overall. For exactly how fees are built up, how to calculate them, and how much you can save, we wrote our most detailed piece: how Binance fees actually work — strongly worth reading after your first buy to lock in this fundamental.

If you haven't signed up yet and want it sorted in one go
Sign up here with our invite code BN0128 for up to 20% off Binance fees; once inside, remember to turn on BNB deductions on the trading page — using both together saves more.

* The final rate is whatever Binance shows on its page; the perk comes from registering through our invite code and adds nothing to your cost.

Sign up with the invite code

8. The beginner red line: don't touch futures yet

This one gets its own section because it's the easiest way for a beginner to lose their whole stake before they even understand it. In the trading interface, besides "spot," you'll definitely also see entries for "futures," "USDT-margined," "perpetual," sometimes with tempting "10x" or "50x" labels beside them. Treat them as if they don't exist for now.

Futures carry leverage (for the concept see Investopedia's explainer), meaning a small amount of money moves a much larger position — which scales up your gains and scales up your losses by the same factor. A small move against you can force your position closed (commonly called "liquidation"), wiping you out overnight. The worst spot can do is the coin drops and you hold and wait; futures can knock you straight out. "I read the direction right and still lost," "I woke up and my stake was gone" — those stories are almost always about futures.

An honest word for where you are nowIf you're reading this beginner's guide, that means now is not your time for futures. Get spot working smoothly, understand fees, set your security up solidly — until those fundamentals are steady, futures hold only risk and no point for you. We wrote a dedicated piece, spot vs futures, on exactly how they differ and why beginners should keep their distance — do take a look.

9. Hands-on: we walked through sign-up again

We checked the flow against the official stepsThis section isn't a tale of some "adventure" we had signing up; it's us walking through the official flow and telling you what a normal run looks like and what to focus on confirming at each step. In order: the sign-up page has an expandable "invite / referral code" field, and after entering it you should confirm it shows bound successfully; next the system usually guides you to enable two-factor auth, and binding an authenticator app gives you a screen of backup keys — don't skip this, copy them down offline; in the verification step you upload your ID and wait for review, and for the face check remember to find a well-lit spot and follow the prompts. What you really want to remember is the order and those few switches you mustn't miss — how fast review goes, or how long the queue is, varies from person to person, so there's no point measuring yourself against anyone's "time taken."

10. Common questions

Do I have to complete verification to use Binance?

Yes. Reputable exchanges now generally require verification before you can fully use deposits, trading and withdrawals. Without it you'll usually face limits or be unable to cash out — a compliance requirement you can't get around, and never use a third party to verify for you.

Should two-factor auth use SMS or an authenticator app?

Prefer an authenticator app. SMS codes carry the risk of SIM-swap and interception, weaker than the offline, rotating codes an app generates. Both on is safer, but at least turn on one.

I forgot to enter an invite code at sign-up — can I add it?

Binance generally requires binding a referrer during sign-up, and once bound it usually can't be changed, so it's very hard to add later. Enter the code right at the sign-up step. Ours is BN0128.

How much should I buy the first time?

Use a small amount you can fully afford to lose without it affecting your life. The goal the first time is to get familiar with the steps and confirm it arrived — not to make money, and certainly not to catch the bottom.

Why are the coins fewer than I calculated?

Because the fee was already deducted at fill — roughly a thousandth taken as the fee, with the rest converted into coins. That's normal, not an overcharge.

Is verification safe — will my ID leak?

Doing verification yourself on a reputable platform means your information goes through the platform's compliance flow. The real danger is handing your ID to a stranger offering "verification services" — that's where it can be used for harm. Do it yourself, don't outsource it.

11. Your opening-day checklist

On the day you open the account, run through these and you basically won't leave anything to regret:

  • Enter through an address you verified yourself; don't click unfamiliar links;
  • Expand the invite code field at sign-up and enter BN0128;
  • Set a strong, unique password, ideally stored in a password manager;
  • Turn on two-factor auth (prefer an authenticator app), with the backup key saved offline;
  • Set an anti-phishing code;
  • Pass verification first try, with details matching your registered name;
  • Deposit only a small amount the first time, entirely through the platform's flow;
  • Buy your first spot order at market, confirm it arrived, and read the fee;
  • Remember: no futures right now.

Get through these and you're officially on the road. What's left isn't rushing to buy more and more, but slowly filling in the fundamentals — "reading fees," "telling spot from futures," "withdrawing safely." The other pieces on this site are laid out in exactly that order for you — no rush, one at a time.

Let's run the path quickly once more: sign up and enter the invite code while you're at it (only this once), immediately turn on two-factor auth and the anti-phishing code, do verification honestly, deposit a small amount and convert it to USDT, buy your first spot order at market, read the fee, and then — no futures right now. Get the order right and it's genuinely hard for a beginner to go badly wrong. Take it slow, one steady step at a time.

Lin Yue · Bitu editorial
Notes on using exchanges, written for beginners. Lin Yue is a pen name; we don't pose as anyone's expert, we just write down the flows and traps we've checked over and over. For decisions involving money, go by the official pages and your own verification.

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