This is an essential step, as some make the mistake of relying on an online wallet to secure their funds. For small quantities, this can be done in some cases, but it’s recommended to have a wallet where
you are the one in full control of the private keys.
There are 3 types of wallets excluding online wallets that you might want to use:
Software wallets: These are wallet applications you download and install into your Personal Computer or mobile devices.
Bitcoin Core and Electrum are pretty solid options as Desktop Wallets.
Core is a full node client, meaning that it helps with verifying and transmitting Bitcoin transactions and blocks across the network and, unless pruned, stores a copy of the entire Blockchain. This process can be very slow at first but offers better security & privacy since Core doesn’t have to rely on data from external servers or other peers on the network. Electrum, on the other hand, is a lightweight wallet that is easier to use and has other features like multi-signature wallets, integration with hardware wallets, and more.
Mycelium and
CoPay are also great options for Android and iOS respectively. Mycelium is an HD (hierarchical deterministic) wallet with many advanced features, like support for hardware wallets from
TREZOR and Ledger, watch-only accounts, cold storage spending, and more. CoPay is simple to use and multi-platform, making it easy for you to use the same wallet or accounts across multiple devices and platforms.
Hardware wallets: These are physical devices designed specifically to store Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
https://www.ledgerwallet.com offers everything you need in a hardware wallet: the ability to send, receive, check and manage multiple addresses for a variety of cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and more) from the same device, and offers plenty of security measures and backup. All private keys are stored on a smart chip and never get leaked outside of the device, all signing happens internally.
Paper wallets: These are private keys that can be printed out on a piece of paper and can be used as long term storages, once they are claimed they should not be reused.
https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/ is a good option, it allows you to generate paper wallets offline in case you’re worried about malicious software, and it’s recommended to do so.
Important note: ALWAYS back-up your wallets and private keys. Do not use just one address to store all your coins and split up your funds for a lesser risk of losing them.The next step
Once you have your Bitcoins, there are many things you can do from this point, like trading your Bitcoins for other cryptocurrencies that you might find an interest in, gambling for entertainment, and so much more. This is completely up to you and has its risks; just holding Bitcoin has a huge benefit of its own.
Bittrex and Binance are a few good exchanges with a wide variety of cryptocurrencies to choose from. Research is key when trading with cryptocurrencies, just like Bitcoin, each cryptocurrency has its own risks. Trade carefully and diligently.