Bitcoin Cash is the result of a fork of the Bitcoin currency that came about in 2017. This cryptocurrency has a number of changes that differentiates it from bitcoin, including increasing block sizes, and allowing for greater scalability. Put simply, it was mooted as a bigger, better alternative to its predecessor.

On the ticker, you’ll see Bitcoin Cash called BCH. In practice, the potential confusion between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash makes it clearer to draw a distinction between BTC and BCH in general parlance. The symbol for Bitcoin Cash is another way of conveying the difference: it’s the same ₿, except that it’s tilted counter-clockwise rather than clockwise.

A cryptocurrency exchange is a marketplace where buyers and sellers trade cryptocurrencies. Just like regular stock exchanges, a cryptocurrency exchange serves as a middleman who sets the market price at which an equal number of buyers and sellers can be found.

Like Bitcoin, BCH is divisible in up to eight decimals. As such, you can spend as much or as little of your fiat currency on BCH as you like.

Ironically, Bitcoin Cash is heavily tied to the fortunes of Bitcoin. If Bitcoin goes up or down, Bitcoin Cash will often follow. After the initial fork, there were several further forks of Bitcoin Cash in 2018, into Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash SV. Future forks will almost certainly impact the price of the currency.

Depending on the exchange you’re using to buy Bitcoin Cash, you might find that you need to first swap your preferred fiat currency for another one (usually the US dollar). Moreover, some exchanges exclusively support bank transfers as a method of payment, which might pose an obstacle to those who wish to buy Bitcoin Cash. If you’d like to compare the available exchanges, you can do so through Cryptoradar. Use the filters to narrow down the field, and pick out an exchange that matches with your circumstances and needs.