Looks like I have another golden opportunity to throw my hat in the ring for another chance at the COVETED PRIZES that our Lord-Emperors at Publish0x have decided (in their infinite wisdom, Peace Be Upon Them) to bless us with. Being a perpetual sucker for that sweet sweet crypto, I can't help myself. My body is ready, and I'm going in feet first. Like a time traveling newborn.

So, as many of you well know, Publish0x has integrated Loopring (LRC) into the tip coffers and so far, I have enjoyed it. Strange new crypto on our midsts? Yes please. Nothing quite like a little bit of strange.

Ohhh Yeah, Gonna Tame Me Some Tonight.

ANYWAY, before Publish0x introduced Loopring to us, I had only heard a thing or two about it, and honestly, I didn't have much of an opinion on it. So, I did a little digging and (without getting too deep here) I found out what they were all about. 

So, What In Merlin's Leotard is LOOPRING (LRC)?

Loopring has one primary goal in mind: To create super awesome decentralized exchanges and use their token and ecosystem as the intermediary. Why give up the keys to your coin to the other CENTRALIZED guys, when you can rest easy knowing that your crypto belongs to you? Hell, according to Loopring, over 2 BILLION USD has been lost due to these exchanges, and when it's gone, it's basically gone. Loopring wants to provide you with a trading experience that is non-custodial, decentralized, secure and SCALABLE. Good work, Loopring. There's a lot more to it, and if you want a deeper dive you can go to their website to learn more about their setup and why you should probably use it. But, don't listen to me. I'm just some guy writing this ass-naked in my basement. Would you take financial advice from someone like that?

Pictured: Setting Up My Rig to Mine BEENZ in the 90s

Now, To The Topic In Question: Setting Up on Loopring DEX.

So, my first step was to follow the link to the Loopring Decentralized Exchange and see what it takes to get set up and rolling. To make things easy, you can actually link your own ERC wallet to the exchange, and it's SUPER EASY! This frame is shown in the right side of the page when you go there:

From here it is pretty straightforward. Click on the "Connect Wallet" Button and you'll be shown this:

You have the choice to directly setup MetaMask (which didn't work for me, sadly. A bug perhaps?), OR you can set up by cicking the WalletConnect icon. The latter is what I did. WalletConnect has several supported wallets, which you can see on their website HERE. Alternatively, if you're lazy and don't wanna click that link, I have curated the supported wallets in this image:

You're Welcome, Lazy Person.

After clicking the WalletConnect Icon, you will be shown a QR code like this:

Just scan it with your smartphone if you have your wallet app, and BOOM. You're in like Flynn. It will ask you to set up a password and you're ready to trade.

Time to Trade Some STONKS.

Okay, so now that you're set up, it's time to do a trade. Send over some LRC or whatever other supported coin you want (there's a deposit button in your options) and you're good to go. They make it STUPID easy to do this, which is fantastic. Typically, I need to open one or two exchanges, get a piece of aluminum foil and an introductory text on quantum physics to get this right everywhere else. It's a pain in the ass.

And Those Books Are Way Too Advanced for Me, Too.

I deposited some ETH, and finally had a proper look at the exchange:

Beautiful Dark THEME!

If you were like me, then you saw this type of exchange setup for the first time and was like "Holy Hell, How in God's Name does ALL THIS WORK?". It's actually relatively easy to understand; in the middle, you have the volume and prices for LINK/ETH (which is what I did for my first trade here). The sticks you see are candles, and the lines shows different stats and indicators. These are important for technical analysis, and frankly are outta the scope of the "first trade" so to speak. On the left of the middle, you'll see the order books. The greens are buys, and the reds are sales. Typically, you'll wanna go ahead and buy the lowest price in the red if you're buying, else you gotta wait for he exchange to place your order. That can be a bit of a hassle, and I guess there's reasons for doing that, but honestly, we are just trying to dip the toes in the water. Since I'm trading ETH for LINK, I wanna take the lowest price that just sold and use that. More bang for the buck. I'm no Trading Guru, so feel free to tell me how dumb that was in the comments below.

Click on your desired price and specify how much ETH you wanna sell at the price. Click the "Buy LINK" button and BOOM, the Loopring exchange does the trade in an instant. It was pretty fast, I was impressed!

I went ahead and played around a bit on the exchange, deposited some LRC in there for fun, and now I have myself a nice little kitty of different cryptos in my Loopring DEX account. Here's proof of my FIRST TRADE:

Feels Good.

The Patented Internet A**hole™ Opinion.

Having traded on a few different exchanges, I think this was pretty well put together. Bear in mind that while I came across few problems doing this, your experience might not be the same. The Loopring DEX is still in its Beta Phase, and there will be tweaks, changes and challenges moving forward. That's just the nature of the beast, and you know this is the case if you're a regular on Publish0x as well (since we are technically still in beta). Patience is key here, and I think that with the wallet integration feature, this should actually be easier to play with than other exchanges for a beginner.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE, BUT FORGIVE BECAUSE IT IS IN BETA: There are few supported pairs at this juncture, and they are all ERC-20 tokens at the moment. This is a small gripe, but I would like to see some expansion into BAT and such, as well as possible Non-ERC tokens such as TRX, Tezos, etc. I know that this is probably a LOT easier said than done, and will take time, but I think it would be REALLY awesome if I could trade multiple different blockchains in the future. In fact, I figure this will be inevitable as they move forward; after all, they wanna be THE exchange to end all exchanges. I think they have a good chance of doing that.

Definite 8/10 with an extra few points for giving me a context to photoshop a fat guy.

Thank you SO much for reading, I really appreciate it. Special thanks to the Publish0x Team (I mean it, no ass kissing. Maybe a little.) and all you crazy Cryptophiliacs in the Wild West. Trade on Loopring youself and tell me how it did you!

Until next time, keep your eye on the markets and stay Loopy.