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JIM ARMSTRONG: Once you have your Fidelity Crypto account opened, well, you’re probably going to want to fund that account, get some money in there so that you can buy and sell the cryptocurrencies of your choice.
I’ve got a couple of questions that came in during registration from viewers, asking specifically about that process. Laura wants to know, “What are the ways to fund your Fidelity Crypto account? Can you transfer from other Fidelity accounts?”
And Eladio asks, “How do I go about funding my crypto account?” Pretty straightforward questions, Dan. How straightforward are the answers?
DAN CHODOS: Oh, I hope they’re straightforward as well, Jim. But why don’t we take a look at it? So again, why don’t we start on the desktop version here? So if you already have a brokerage account and you already participate in buying and selling of different stocks and equities and items, you may already have a funding source.
And so as we talked about with funding, you do need to have funding into the brokerage account from your bank and then the brokerage to the crypto. So the first thing you need to do is go ahead and fund that brokerage. So I’m going to start here, and I’m going to go ahead and EFT to or from a bank.
So if I come in here, if I already have a bank listed, it would show me as a bank here. So I would be able to bring those funds in immediately. But if I don’t, I am able to go ahead and add a bank or recipient. And so I’ve just gone ahead and clicked that. And I’m going to click “Add a bank or recipient.”
And then, we’ll walk you through the next steps. So I’ll click “Continue.” And then there’s a number of different options EFTs, wires, different apps, or other accounts. For the purposes today, we’re going to do an EFT, electronic fund transfer. So that’s sending money from a linked bank to somebody else’s.
And so, we’ll do an EFT, and you can either here, set it up for yourself, or if you’re sending funds elsewhere, we are bringing the funds to myself. And then a couple of things that you’re going to need. We’ll need a security code. That’s to verify your identity and make sure that this is a safe and secure process.
You’ll need a bank account routing and account number. So here, we’ll show you on either a check or a deposit slip, this is where you can find those routing and account numbers. And in some cases, if you choose, you’ll need your online banking username and password. And that, sometimes, will establish a faster connection and allow you to bring those funds across.
Click “Continue.” And as mentioned, we are going to do a security code. And this is going to, again, verify us to go through the process safely and securely. So I’m just going to go ahead and type in here.
And that’ll bring us to this next stage. And again, we are looking to do an electronic funds transfer, an EFT. You can also choose to do that wire as we mentioned. It’s coming from myself and not a bank or a business. And so here, again, if you’d like, you can go and securely log in to your bank and connect directly. That’s one way of doing it.
Also, if you want, you can enter your bank information here. And this is where we would allow you to provide those routing and account numbers. And that would go ahead, “Agree & Continue.” That would set up the existing EFT. And you can bring the funds in from that external bank to the brokerage.
So let’s say that you actually do have an account that’s already funded, and you want to get those funds over to the crypto account. So in this case, you can see, I have this individual account with $37.62, and I’d like to bring that over to my crypto account.
So again, I’m going to come over here to the Transfer window. And here, you’ll see ”Transfer cash or shares between Fidelity accounts.” What I’d like to do is pick my brokerage account first. So again, bank to brokerage is step 1, brokerage to crypto is step 2. So we’re in the step 2.
So we want to go brokerage. And here, you’ll see it’s labeled as the “Funding account for Fidelity Crypto.” You’ll see what you have available to withdraw and to send over to Fidelity Crypto. So today, we have $37.62. And then I’d like to select the Fidelity Crypto account that I’d like to send it to. We’ll go ahead and send $10.
Review the transfer. So we are sending from our brokerage over to our Fidelity Crypto account. And then hit “Submit,” and you’ll get your confirmation. And that’s how you fund your crypto account in desktop.
JIM: All right, Dan. Next step then is to show us how to fund on a mobile device.
DAN: Yeah, certainly. So, again, we are here on this test account using the mobile device. And again, as a reminder, when you’re doing things on the mobile device, make sure you’re on the latest mobile release, which you can get from the Google Play® store or the App Store®.
So we are on the latest version here. You’ll see our test account. Pretty straightforward entry point here. You’ll see this big green circle with the Transact button. And so that’s the entry point into transfer from mobile. You can click there and click “Transfer” again.
And so just like desktop, what we’re looking to do is bring funds over from our bank to our brokerage and then bring from brokerage to crypto. So if I already have a bank, that would show here as an option to bring in. If I don’t, which I don’t on this account, I can go ahead and link a bank account.
So I’m going to click “Link a bank account.” And then here’s my options again, the electronic funds transfer, an EFT, where I can send it, wire, or another account. So I’ll click EFT from myself or to myself. And then again, just like desktop, you’ll need a security code to verify your identity, the bank account routing and account numbers, which if you click here, again, we show this on— you can get this from your check, from the deposit slip. You can also get it from your own bank’s account page as well, if you log in there.
And then if you want and you can connect directly, you would need your online banking credentials, your username and password. So I’ll click “Continue.” And here, it is asking me for that security code. So I’m going to go ahead and put that in here.
To make sure that it is a secure connection as we’re doing this transaction, so I am choosing an electronic funds transfer, myself, and it is not a business account. How do you want to add the bank account information? So again, you can connect directly through this link, or you can enter in the bank information on your own. So this is that routing number and account number.
I’ll click that. Click a new link. ”I am the owner.” I’m going to use a checking or a brokerage account. You can also use a savings account. And this is where you’re going to provide that routing number, the account number, and then, reenter it as well. And then once you click “Agree & Continue,” you are going to be connected into that bank, and you can go ahead and make that transfer.
Alternatively, you may also already have funds in an existing brokerage account. So in this case, if I go ahead and I’m back in that Transfer widget, which I got from that little green circle on the bottom that says Transfer, and I’m going to transfer from my individual account.
And so you’ll see here I do have funds that are available, ready to go over to Fidelity Crypto. So I have my individual account listed here. It’s pre-populated. My crypto account is the only account I can transfer for. In this case, you’ll see that I do have $40 sitting there as well. So I’m just going to add a couple extra bucks and go ahead and make a $5 transfer.
We’ll click “Review.” And you’ll see this is coming from an individual account to your Fidelity Crypto account today. And click “Submit.” And that is how you fund your account on mobile.
JIM: Excellent, Dan. Thank you for that. We are one step closer to actually placing our first trades, our buys and sells. But before we do that, on behalf of the whole team here, I just want to remind everybody watching to really take the time to do your research into cryptocurrencies before you make that first buy.
Cryptocurrencies are notoriously, infamously volatile. They’re very risky, and you really need to be comfortable and knowledgeable about what you’re buying before you buy it. Also, try to figure out your own personal risk tolerance. How do you handle and deal with volatility? What is your time horizon look like? Do all of these things to, as we say a lot here, build up your crypto confidence before you make that first trade.
If you’re looking for help on how to do that, we would humbly suggest Fidelity.com/Crypto is a tremendous resource for you. It’s going to walk you through, as Dan has been doing, and will continue to do, how to open and fund and trade in an account. Tons of frequently asked questions there, as well as lots of other videos, and infographics, and short-form articles, long- form articles, animated videos.
They’re all in there, all in an attempt at both the basic and advanced level to help get you comfortable with what you need to know before you place that first trade. It’s a tremendous resource for you here. If you’re going to bookmark one website as a result of this livestream, it probably should be Fidelity.com/Crypto.
