If you want to buy ICP, there are two basic paths. For almost everybody I'd recommend the first: buy ICP on a spot exchange and move it into the Network Nervous System yourself. The second — buying or selling entire accounts on an app called IDGeek — can save advanced users real money, but it comes with real complexity. Here's how I'd think about the trade-off. None of this is financial advice; it's my opinion.
The simple path: buy on a spot exchange
Buy ICP on a reputable spot exchange, withdraw it to your own wallet, and then lock it up in the Network Nervous System to stake. The one thing to check before you commit: make sure the exchange actually lets you withdraw your crypto. Believe it or not, some don't — and to me an exchange that won't let you take your coins off the platform is the height of sketchiness. Buy, withdraw, stake in the NNS. That's the whole beginner path, and it's the one I'd point most people to.
The advanced path: buying accounts on IDGeek
At idgeek.app you can buy someone's entire ICP account — even staked positions — often at a meaningful discount. The numbers can be striking. I saw an account holding 20,000 ICP with a standing bid of 15,500 ICP; another with 9,200 ICP had sold for about 7,250. If you're an intermediate or expert holder willing to take on the extra complexity, buying an account can get you more ICP per dollar than spot, and it gives someone on the other side a way out of a position they can't hold anymore.
Selling your identity is usually a bad deal
You can also list your own internet identity for sale on IDGeek, but there's a catch: a cooldown of at least 30 days from the day you list it before a sale can go through. And buyers rarely pay full value — that 20,000-ICP account being bid at 15,500 is the seller's loss and the buyer's gain. So selling here mostly makes sense if you're desperate to exit, and "desperate to exit" is usually the worst time to make a financial decision. I'm not planning to go there myself.
The complexity tax
The reason I steer beginners away from IDGeek is the overhead. Buying an account means holding a second internet identity — another thing to secure, another thing to lose. I recently spoke with someone who'd loaded up on spot once and then bought three more accounts: that's four separate recovery phrases to protect. You can tie them to one email instead, but then a single cracked email can hand over all of them. More accounts means more attack surface. Decide honestly whether the discount is worth that.
So: beginners, buy on a spot exchange and do everything yourself. Intermediate and expert holders who want to save money can use IDGeek with eyes open. Either way, the question of how much ICP is actually enough matters more than where you buy it. For more on the Internet Computer, watch my ICP playlist here.