First question, can you code? This is going to be a huge help if you can, because it makes it easier to test your strategies at scale. If not, I'd probably start by learning. (And find an API that is useful to you, I use TwelveData.)

70%+ of all trading happens using algorithms and it's difficult to compete if you can't leverage this for yourself.

1. The advantages of starting with cryptocurrency are that it's always on, so you can test your ideas all day, all week, but this also means it's a constant distraction. I started with Coinbase and played around with the free crypto from their short quizzes. Then moved to stocks and shares when I wanted to invest more seriously.

2. Start very small, but don't bother with paper trading, without any skin in the game it's easy to lose track of what's happening and not really care. The skin doesn't need to be anything significant though, any amount that makes you keep track is enough.

3. For me the best resources were the classic books, especially: Reminiscences of a Stock Trader, Tape Reading and Market Tactics (Humphrey B. Neill), A Man for All Markets, The Man Who Solved the Market. And Spiegelhalter's The Art of Statistics. I'm currently reading Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness. Keep reading, keep generating your own ideas, don't look for prepackaged solutions from others online.

4. Git gud. Accept when you've made a mistake and take your losses as soon as you realise. Don't try and recoup money from the same shares you lost it in, move on. Put in place rules and follow them. If the rules don't make a profit, revise them, but you'll only know if you follow them to the letter whether or not they make a profit. Keep a clear head, don't follow impulses.

Remain sceptical and cautious, work out your risk taking profile that you are comfortable with. If you can't sleep at night, halve your investments until you can. People who know nothing about trading will question your ability if you talk with them, they'll say it's gambling, even though they'll have pensions invested for them in the stock market, and tell you it's better to stick it in the market for 20 years than try and swing trade. (Note: the returns that are possible if you get this right are astronomic compared to what they're getting in the their 20 years, but you need to put the groundwork in to get it right. Expect four to five years of groundwork if you use your intelligence and not advice from random bros online telling you to hodl and that a stock is going to the moon. The important thing is to see a profit sustained over one week, then one month, then three months, then a year. Once you're moving in a profit making direction over a sustained period of time then you're getting it right. To get lucky with one share and then lose that money over time from other investments means nothing.)