<p>It will take a while to get money to an exchange platform, but once you have an account and a balance there, trading is very quick. A lot of people try to do exactly that: They buy low and sell at a profit, or buy on one exchange and sell on another for a higher price.</p>

<p>However, trading on exchange platforms happens off the blockchain, i.e. all the "score keeping" is done by a company in their bookkeeping. It would not be as easy to trade bitcoins by actually holding them, then you would be impeded by waiting for confirmations on the transactions which in average take about ten minutes. You could still trade on large swings over a few months that way, but mini-profits would be very hard to time with such delays.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-26T10:05:13.343Z
2014-12-26T10:05:13.343Z
Murch
<p>It depends. If you already have Robinhood, it may be able to let you buy in within minutes.  I had a Robinhood account, and I bought some Bitcoin within minutes, with no fees.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-25T15:09:17.490Z
2021-01-25T15:09:17.490Z
deeper-understanding
<p>I am curious to know if it is possible to easily buy $5 of Bitcoin and sell it a few minutes later, trying to make mini profits for fun, or are the waiting times etc... Too long?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-26T10:00:55.470Z
@murch I'm wondering if the sole purpose of this question was to attract spam?
John Dvorak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-26T10:11:10.797Z
@JanDvorak: I just got this one up in my review queue and revisited it. On second look I felt that "Unclear what you are asking" didn't really fit. It's not the greatest question, but it isn't wrong or off-topic. I looked at the user's questions on other sites and this one is seems to be a genuine question, even though it is rather obvious. One could argue that it doesn't show enough research effort (which is why I downvoted it).
Murch
<trade>
Is it possible to buy and sell Bitcoin within minutes?
user2826998
# Is it possible to buy and sell Bitcoin within minutes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-15)

I am curious to know if it is possible to easily buy $5 of Bitcoin and sell it a few minutes later, trying to make mini profits for fun, or are the waiting times etc... Too long?

**Tags:** trade

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: @username_2 I'm wondering if the sole purpose of this question was to attract spam?  
> **username_2**: @JanDvorak: I just got this one up in my review queue and revisited it. On second look I felt that "Unclear what you are asking" didn't really fit. It's not the greatest question, but it isn't wrong or off-topic. I looked at the user's questions on other sites and this one is seems to be a genuine question, even though it is rather obvious. One could argue that it doesn't show enough research effort (which is why I downvoted it).  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-12-26. Score: 0

It will take a while to get money to an exchange platform, but once you have an account and a balance there, trading is very quick. A lot of people try to do exactly that: They buy low and sell at a profit, or buy on one exchange and sell on another for a higher price.

However, trading on exchange platforms happens off the blockchain, i.e. all the "score keeping" is done by a company in their bookkeeping. It would not be as easy to trade bitcoins by actually holding them, then you would be impeded by waiting for confirmations on the transactions which in average take about ten minutes. You could still trade on large swings over a few months that way, but mini-profits would be very hard to time with such delays.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2021-01-25. Score: 0

It depends. If you already have Robinhood, it may be able to let you buy in within minutes. I had a Robinhood account, and I bought some Bitcoin within minutes, with no fees.


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