Here is my step-to-step guide on how to buy MATIC on the Polygon Network. Whether you are looking to buy MATIC for the first time as an investment, short-term or long-term, or as a way to buy other cryptocurrency tokens on the Polygon blockchain, then you are in the right place.
MATIC is a cryptocurrency that is used on the Polygon Network. It is used to govern and secure the Polygon Network but can also be used for gas fees and other transactions on Polygon. Polygon has become quite popular because it is fast, can handle a lot of transactions at one time and the gas fees are low. There are also a growing number of applications that are being built on Polygon. But let’s get back to why you are here in the first place - Buying MATIC.
In this article we will look at:
- Why would you want to buy MATIC?
- How to Buy MATIC on a Centralized Exchange (CEX)?
- Where else can I buy MATIC?
Why would you want to buy MATIC?
There are two main reasons why I have bought MATIC:
Polygon, which was formerly known as the MATIC Network, launched in 2017. Since then it has become a top 20 cryptocurrency by market cap. MATIC is know as a blue chip crypto because it is one of the top cryptos in the space and it is widely used because of the popularity of the Polygon Network. I like to look as MATIC as a good long term investment but others will buy MATCI during a bear market, when prices are low, and then sell when it is in a bull market, when prices are high. This cycle can take months or years so you have to be patient.
I have also bought MATIC because you need this crypto in order to use the Polygon Network. You can use MATIC and the Polygon network using wallets like Metamask or a cold walletI likeTrezor or Ledger. But in order to do anything on the Polygon blockchain you need to own MATIC. Why? Because every time you perform any kind of transaction on the blockchain you pay a transaction fee (i.e. gas fee). If you want to do anything on the Polygon blockchain you will need to buy MATIC.
So then how do we buy MATIC for the first time? Well, if you do not own any MATIC, you cannot buy any using a wallet like Metamask or Ledger. You need to use a Centralized Exchange because this is where you can exchange money like Dollars, Euros, Pound, etc for cryptocurrencies.
What is a centralized exchange (CEX)? CEXs are businesses that coordinate cryptocurrency trading on a larger scale. If you were to equate this to the stock market, a CEX would be equivalent to that or Nasdaq.
How to Buy MATIC on a Centralized Exchange
There are many exchanges that I use to buy Crypto. Some are easy to use and the features and very straightforward and some are more complex and they have more advanced features. In this article, I am going to show you how to buy MATIC on Coinbase as I think this is one of the more straightforward CEXs to use.
I am going to show you how easy it is to buy MATIC on Coinbase.
If you are new to Coinbase you can read this article here to help you get started: How to Create An Account on Coinbase.
If you already have an account just click Log in and sign in with your username and password and then we are ready to go. Even if you have an account already, the one thing that you will need before you are ready to buy MATIC is a payment method. This allows Coinbase to pull money from your Bank Account, Paypal or Debit Card and purchase the MATIC for you.
To set up a payment method, click on your user profile picture at the top of the Coinbase website. Click on Settings and then click on Payment Methods. Here you can add multiple payment methods. I have always used the recommended payment method which is your Bank Account (i.e. Checking Account). But Coinbase will also accept PayPal, Debit Card and Wire Transfer. You can set up as many payment methods as you want and choose the one you want to use when you are ready to buy some MATIC.
Now Let’s Buy Some MATIC
Click on the Buy/Sell button at the top of the page. You will get a popup that appears on the screen and this is where you will be able to buy MATIC. The default crypto to buy is Bitcoin so the first thing you need to do is change Bitcoin to MATIC.
Click on the Bitcoin field and then a new popup will appear where you can select which cryptocurrency you want to buy. In the Search field, type in MATIC and then the MATIC crypto will appear below the Search field.
Click on Polygon/MATIC and then you will be taken back to the Buy/Sell popup. You should now see Polygon show up in the crypto field instead of Bitcoin. Don’t be alarmed that you do not see MATIC. You are purchasing MATIC in this case.
You have 2 options on how you want to make the purchase. You can set the amount in your local currency which means you would set the amount in Dollars, Euros, Pounds, etc. or you can click on the round circle with the two arrows that have MATIC written under it. If you click on that circle/button then you will have the option to buy a specific number of MATIC.. For example, you can enter that you want to buy 10 MATIC or any specific number of MATIC that you would like to purchase.
I personally always use the first option because then I know the exact amount I am buying in my local currency. For example, if I put in $100, I know I am buying 100 dollars worth of MATIC.
Next you want to select your payment method. This is right below where it says Polygon. I have my Bank of America account set as my default payment method so that is what appears automatically. If you click on the Pay with field a new popup will appear and you will see all of the payment methods you have set up. If you only have one payment method set up then you do not have to go through this step. But if you have multiple payment methods then hoose the one you want to use.
Coinbase also allows you to buy MATIC a one time purchase or you can make it a recurring purchase (daily, weekly, etc). I personally only use the One time purchase method but it is up to you. The main downside that I see of using the recurring payment method is that you will have no idea what the price of MATIC will be in 2 weeks, a month, etc.
As soon as you enter the amount of MATIC you want to buy, the button at the bottom of the popup will say Preview Buy. Click on that button and you will see a preview of your order. Don't worry, you have not bought anything yet. You can first review your purchase before you make it.
In this example you will see that I am buying 765.589 MATIC. The payment that I am using is my default payment method at Bank of America. The price is the current price of MATIC which is $0.64/MATIC. I entered in 500 dollars in the previous page so I am only getting $492.66 worth of MATIC as Coinbase takes a trading fee. Every CEX will take some sort of trading fees. There are other decentralized exchanges (DEX) where the fees are much lower but I will go into that in another article. To use a DEX you already need MATIC because that is how you will pay your gas fees. In this case here we using Coinbase because we need to buy MATIC for the first time.
Click on Buy Now and you are good to go. You have just purchased some MATIC and within a few seconds it will appear in your wallet on Coinbase.
Where Else Can I Buy MATIC?
In this article I recommended Coinbase because it is one of the easier platforms to use to buy crypto especially if you are new to crypto. There are other centralized exchanges that I use as well. These have more advanced features and are listed below:
Here is a list of the top other exchanges that I use:
- Kucoin.com
- Crypto.com
- FTX.com
- Kraken.com
In the end it comes down to what works best for you and how experienced you are in the crypto space. As I mentioned before, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me. I am always here to help.