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Bitcoin Tops $1,000 For the First Time
An anonymous reader writes with this bit from The Next Web "Bitcoin hit a new milestone today, passing the $1,000 mark for the first time. The virtual currency is currently trading above the four-digit figure, with its highest at $1,030 on Mt. Gox, one of the largest exchanges. Last week, Bitcoin's high for the day was $632. That means its trading value has surged 62.83 percent in a week, assuming we're looking at just its high points. That figure could of course rise even further if Bitcoin continues to push further up throughout the day."
They were only $90 about six weeks ago.
Yes.. ASIC blades mostly.
Really, the spike is good news because I'm making so much more money than usual (per USD), but this isn't going to last. It's not going to deflate to $0 though...
Going down with the ship, huh?
Gold Price Performance USD
Today -0.58 -0.05%
30 Days -110.80 -8.19%
6 Months -145.20 -10.47%
1 Year -508.20 -29.05%
You can't spell "oneiromancy" without "roman".
One simple trick to short Bitcoins:
1) Contractually agree to sell $amount Bitcoins on $date for $price near the current price.
2) When the going rate drops, actually buy $amount and hold them.
3) Wait until $date, then fulfill the contract, and sell them at the agreed $price.
You know, like shorting any other stock or commodity. The only difference is that without as large market as most stocks and commodities have, finding a schmuck to take the other side of the contract isn't so easy.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
The criticism that bitcoin hashing doesn't really DO anything is valid
It's not.
Mining gold doesn't (mostly) do anything, unless you count "being shinypretty on ladies' necks and fingers". Only ~10% is actually used in industry and medicine, ~70% is jewelry and the rest is piled in the vaults.
Printing money also doesn't serve any purpose - wasting all that counterfeit-proof "paper" and ink using superexpensive printing presses etc, all for those little rectangles that aren't even useful as asswipes anymore, what with making them hydrophobic and all.
Of course, that's only if you don't use that money as a token of value, then all the tricks they use to counter fakes are not a waste.
They were at $90 five months ago. (Not sure why you're modded as "informative" when you're inaccurate.) https://coinbase.com/charts
It is apparently also much easier to steal, or have you not noticed all the buttcoin articles on /. over the past few months where there is a major heist or a trading company vanishes with millions of dollars worth? I even saw something today where someone threw out his computer with a bitcoin wallet on the hard drive (not backed up, of course) and now he wants it back (duh).
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Buy Price $968.80 Sell Price $963.76 (Coinbase).
Coinbase prices are real, because if you sell there, you get the money. Mt. Gox prices are higher, but you can't get US dollars out.
"In the entire history of investing, there has never been anything like X before."
This was said in earnest in every single past bubble. Bitcoin's future is entirely determined by fashion - as it becomes more fashionable, price will go up, if people drop it like last-years boy band, it can go to 0.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
One can as easily short currency as one can short stock. Or wheat, bonds, etc. I suggested looking up stocks because there is more and clearer information out there then on bonds. Let me see if I can make my point clearer. Remember, I am only going through the mechanics of a short sale.
Example #1: I sell 1 BitCoin for $1,000. This is your example. It assumes you have $1,000 and are interested in a finial sale.
Example #2: I borrow 1 BitCoin today from Party A and promise to pay back the 1 BitCoin plus interest sometime in the future. Party A does not trust me and asks for collateral so I post the $1,000 as collateral plus some extra amount as a buffer. I then sell the borrowed BitCoin for $1,000 to Party B. Under this scenario we don’t have to assume I have $1,000. Maybe I only have $5 or $10.
And I am not sure what technical point you are making. Yes, the number of shares sold in a IPO is arbitrary. So was the choice for the number of BitCoins.
As long as I can borrow BitCoins I can short BitCoins.
You obviously suck at math, then.
If you have $2000 and can buy bitcoins at $1000:
1. Buy 2 bitcoins (spending $2000), short one, bitcoin drops to zero: you have $1000 (gain from the short)
2. Buy 1 bitcoin (only spending $1000), bitcoin drops to zero: you still have $1000 (saved from the start)
How on earth did you expect to make more money by shorting something while being long on the same thing, rather than directly selling what you have?