What is the best way to keep your crytpo SAFE?

So far as I can tell, there is no single best way to keep your crypto safe. Every form of storage carries with it an element of risk. So I am going to give the pros and cons of various ways of storage.

#1 Keep it on an exchange

This is convenient but carries with it a number of security risks. I feel pretty safe about the security on my account. I bookmark the exchange website to avoid phishing links. Then I have a very lengthy password of random letters and numbers plus Google 2 factor. This seems about as safe as you can get, especially considering my backup 2 factor is locked away in a safety deposit box. You must protect yourself from fires, burglary, misplacement, etc by having a copy of all of your crypto information in a safety deposit box.
The risk comes from the centralization of the exchange. They can be hacked, a rogue employee can steal your funds, or the exchange can be shady to begin with, etc. However, operating an exchange like Coinbase of Binance has become so immensely profitable that I feel like in the event of a hack they would refund your lost money to restore confidence in their business because that would be a sound financial decision for them. Another risk is that an exchange can go down for a period of time resulting in lost liquidity for you.
A pro of the exchange is the ability to set stop limit orders. Thus if your coin is pumping, there is no need to predict the top. Just set a stop order and if the price keeps going up, your order will never execute, but if the price drops, you are protected.

#2 Wallets

There are a ton of wallets out there so I am going to focus on my ether wallet (MEW). The chief danger with these wallets as far as I can tell are phishing attacks, like you go to the wrong web address or click on some link in an email or post. This is easily avoided by bookmarking the website, never clicking on links, and verifying the accuracy of the web address. Also, you run the risk of malware on your computer. I always run a security scan on my computer before accessing anything to do with my crypto. Is this 100% foolproof? Probably not, but it is certainly better than not running a scan.
As far as unlocking your wallet goes, there are a handful of options. The worst option is using your private key. It’s very long so likely you are copy and pasting it which runs the risk of malware getting access to it on your clipboard. Your keys should be on paper and never on your computer. If you want a digital copy, buy a new jump drive, put it on there, and then stash it away in your safety deposit box.
Another option for unlocking your wallet is to use the keynote plus password. Again, don’t store the keynote on your computer. Use a jump. When you download the keynote initially you must go into your downloads and delete it after having moved it to your jump. Then go to your recycle bin and delete it. Some people do not like this method of accessing your wallet. As far as I can tell it is mostly a phishing site issue, meaning if you enter both the keynote and password into a phishing site they now have it. If there is another security issue with this method, please explain in the comments.
Next we move to the hardware wallet. At first, I thought these were amazing, but now it appears that malware can impact the Ledger client. Ivan on Tech reported on this in his Youtube. It appears that malware can rewrite the address in your client. So your key is safe on the ledger but that doesn’t matter if you send funds to the wrong place because the addresses got switched.

#3 diversification

Diversification of where you store your crypto is probably the number one thing you can do to protect yourself. Have a little trading money on a handful of different exchanges. Have a handful of wallets you store your HODL in. Don’t have just one wallet. I know it becomes a bit of a pain, but organize yourself and spread out your funds. That way if one exchange goes down, you fall for one phishing attack, etc, you only lose like 10% of your funds instead of everything.

I hope this helps. If I missed anything important, please comment. I left out hot wallets because I don’t spend my crypto so I don’t see the point.