Funding your wallet

Prior to trading on Bisq users must have enough Bitcoin in their Bisq wallet to cover the security deposit as well as the trading and mining fees.

The security deposits help prevent fraud, therefore, Bisq requires that both the buyers and sellers post one (in bitcoin) for every trade. On the buyer's side, this is normally 10% of the trade amount.

Sellers can specify their preferred deposit percentage when creating an offer to sell bitcoin. The default is 10%, but it’s possible you’ll come across offers that require bigger (or smaller) security deposits.

As of this writing, you would need 0.0012 BTC to take an offer to buy 0.01 BTC that requires a 10% security deposit. But please note that mining fees can fluctuate, some sellers may require bigger security deposits, and you’ll need more for bigger trades, so it may be better to acquire more than the bare minimum so you have more flexibility.

If you don’t already own the bitcoin you need, you’ll need to obtain it. How? You’ve got options. Friends and family are often the best option—simply buy a small amount of bitcoin directly from someone you trust. Otherwise, you can try a [local bitcoin ATM] (many don’t require ID for small transactions), [bitcoin meetups/events], or vouchers.

Once you’ve gotten enough bitcoin for your security deposit and fees, you can move it into Bisq’s built-in wallet. This isn’t strictly required, but it’ll make trading more convenient since the security deposit & fees you need to accept an offer will be readily available when making or taking an offer.

To send Bitcoin to your Bisq wallet, go to the Funds screen and click on the Receive tab. Send your bitcoin to one of the addresses listed.

If you’d rather not hold any bitcoin in your Bisq wallet, that’s fine, but you’ll need to transfer your security deposit & fees manually when you take an offer.

A note on centralized exchanges:

Most centralized platforms and exchanges (like Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, etc) track your personal information, putting you at risk by tying your identity to the bitcoin you buy and sell there. Also, since Bitcoin transactions are public and easily traceable, potentially all of your future transactions involving those bitcoin could be traced back to you.

Bisq is built from the ground up to avoid this privacy fiasco, so we strongly recommend avoiding centralized exchanges and to get your first bitcoin through one of the other channels mentioned above.