1.yous hould start with reading some begiiner's guides into trading,at least learn basic strategies and terms
be able to deposit and withdraw
2.any trusted trading platform will do -I would suggest Poloniex for begiiners,Yobit (if you want to start very low and don't mind lack of support)
3.use sites like coinwarz.com or ,literally any chart side you find
4.you have to understand manual before proceding to auto
5.altcoin is same as any asset trading,the main idea is find the volatile market and follow it's movement
you can profit on both falling and eising market equally well
the yobit u forget to mention there are many dead coins. That is VERY important for newbies.
Even i nearly got big loss on yobit because of that.