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Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

mtgox.com

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Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#21

Post by polshaw »

BrianEatWorld wrote: post #9
ohashi wrote: post #2

Time to sell

It seems funny to assume that. I mean I haven't been tracking the underlying fundamentals, but the nature of most currencies today is that because they are managed, they tend to go up and down. If the fundamentals are solid for Bitcoins, as in there is actually increasing demand (which seems feasible given all the new services advertising their acceptance) and the supply is increasing in tune with expectations (which…

Everyone holding Bitcoins is a speculator. If they believe the price is only going down, they will sell and crash the market, just like before.

Notice i did not say everyone using bitcoins are speculators.. but if you are say a merchant with goods available in bitcoins, (and you don't wish to speculate) you will peg your price to your local currency, and after selling your goods will sell your bitcoin immediately for local currency. Which means you are no longer holding bitcoin or having any impact on bitcoin demand.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#22

Post by citricsquid »

oscilloscope wrote: post #15
patejam wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it is terrible for legitimizing them. Why should someone adopt Bitcoins as a currency if there's not a stable value? Bring in all of the security issues that have been popping up as its popularity has increased and I see a decline in Bitcoin adoption coming soon. I don't think Bitcoins are the answer to the problems they are trying to solve.

Because the cost of accepting them and converting them to currency is less than the transaction fees of credit cards or PayPal. If you don't need to convert to cash right away, then the transaction fees are very low indeed.

Not for reddit:

    So far we're spending more money on accountants handling the non-trivial 
    reconciliation of our BTC transactions than revenue we're making in Bitcoin, 
    haha. Hopefully it will get better.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/19t3uq/hey_rbitcoin...

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#23

Post by MichaelApproved »

habosa wrote: post #16

Is there any exchange where I can short sell bitcoins? Besides the fact that this will almost definitely be a profitable strategy in the near future, it would seem that allowing both short and long positions would create market stability. Most securities exchanges allow both short and long positions.

It would be great for the system by creating more liquidity.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#24

Post by Permit »

habosa wrote: post #16

Is there any exchange where I can short sell bitcoins? Besides the fact that this will almost definitely be a profitable strategy in the near future, it would seem that allowing both short and long positions would create market stability. Most securities exchanges allow both short and long positions.

Short selling Bitcoins would be an incredibly risky move on your part. There are no financial regulations in place to prevent market manipulation. You used to be able to short sell on Bitcoinica and there were some really questionable margin calls that took place.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#25

Post by muyuu »

habosa wrote: post #16

Is there any exchange where I can short sell bitcoins? Besides the fact that this will almost definitely be a profitable strategy in the near future, it would seem that allowing both short and long positions would create market stability. Most securities exchanges allow both short and long positions.

Yes, go ahead:

http://mpex.co/ https://icbit.se/

I want to load some more, so the more you short them the merrier.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#26

Post by unix-dude »

Really interesting stuff. I was expecting a crash or at least "return to normal" in that period where the price jumped to around $25 (before a mini-crash to like $16, and then the subsequent takeoff to the 40s).

Personally, I dont think they're worth $50, but heck, thats a horrible reason for you not to buy them. A more objective reason not to buy now is that there are people holding thousands of bitcoins. If a few of them (or maybe even one big player) sells tons of them, it could cause a crash like last time, when the price fell from $33ish to almost 0.

Interesting times for bitcoin either way.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#27

Post by obiefernandez »

If 500 million people were to embrace Bitcoin to the point where they own on average $100 worth, then it would represent $50 Billion in value (500 Million x $100). With only 20 Million Bitcoins in circulation, each Bitcoin would be worth $2500.

That's discounting other deflationary factors.

I think it would be nuts to put all your savings in Bitcoin, but as a hedge against fiat currencies and interesting place to put play money: time to buy!

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#28

Post by JumpCrisscross »

habosa wrote: post #16

Is there any exchange where I can short sell bitcoins? Besides the fact that this will almost definitely be a profitable strategy in the near future, it would seem that allowing both short and long positions would create market stability. Most securities exchanges allow both short and long positions.

A pre-requisite for this would be liquid Bitcoin lending, to establish the Bitcoin rates market.

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#29

Post by modeless »

oscilloscope wrote: post #18
pokpokpok wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how many is a large amount? 1000?

Here's a list of the top 100 large wallets from Dec, 2011. The biggest wallet then had 447785 BTC. Anyone have an updated list? http://bitcoinreport.appspot.com/

Wow, this is a fascinating list. So we know there are at least 25 bitcoin millionaires (bitcoin wallets with value > $1,000,000 USD).

Re: Bitcoin Tops $50USD on MtGox

#30

Post by panarky »

habosa wrote: post #16

Is there any exchange where I can short sell bitcoins? Besides the fact that this will almost definitely be a profitable strategy in the near future, it would seem that allowing both short and long positions would create market stability. Most securities exchanges allow both short and long positions.

I would be happy to lend you bitcoin you can sell (secured with sufficient collateral of course).
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