While the Western Hemisphere slept, Bitcoin plummeted. Just after midnight Eastern Time on Friday, the cryptocurrency was valued at a little over $15,000, on the digital currency exchange Coinbase. At that point, it was already well below the $19,783 all-time high it had hit the week before. Over the course of the night, Bitcoin began to decline erratically, occasionally spiking but following a general downward trend. Around 9:22 a.m. Eastern, it hit a temporary floor, valued at a mere $10,400. By that point, it had declined more than $6,000 from its short-term peak the morning before, having lost more than one-third of its value. Bitcoin wasn't the only currency hit by a sharp drop. Tech Crunch's Jon Russell reports that most other prominent cryptocurrencies also fell, including Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash (which is, confusingly, separate from Bitcoin proper). As Russell notes, it's hard to say why this is happening, "in the same way that nobody knows exactly why bitcoin's price has [shot] up from a touch under $1,000 at the start of the year." [Reply]
Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins:
I've got an idea: invest in assets that have intrinsic value rather than timing a speculative bubble.
I work at a private trading company that is one of the most active in Bitcoin. I have watched its rise from afar with some bemusement.
Over the past two weeks, I have seen more bubble-ish signs than I've seen in almost anything in my career (working in financial markets at an investment bank, etc since 2003).
The highlight was my wife asking me last week to buy a Bitcoin for her because her friend in fashion heard it was a good investment.
I only offer the above as caution. Red flags are everywhere. The only saving grace is that there's very little leverage in the market, but that's countered by the fact that there are a lot of unsophisticated investors who have just gotten in over the past month.
I'm not sure how I feel about it intrinsically. I imagine it will someday be worth nothing but have thought that for awhile and have certainly been wrong. I'm just saying that it's been in bubble territory recently and its "value" right now isn't something that's good risk/reward at all to be betting on. This is a bad lottery ticket. [Reply]
Yesterday all the alt coins and bitcoin got destroyed. People were freaking out they weren't making money, but now losing money. I don't know what will happen, I do want to know if people are using the term bitcoin as a generic word for all crypto or do they specifically just mean bitcoin. [Reply]
Originally Posted by ghak99:
I'm glad I got nervous and got out.
I don't know when the bubble pops, but the last week should scare off a few of the bugs that were swarming the light.
Funny to watch the people new to bitcoin freak out on the swings. Bitcoin
probably is even less volatile than it used to be. It routinely swings 20-40% in a matter of days.
The price and swings don't scare me about bitcoin, the backlog of transactions, fees and potential of CERTAIN regulation do. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Demonpenz:
Yesterday all the alt coins and bitcoin got destroyed. People were freaking out they weren't making money, but now losing money. I don't know what will happen, I do want to know if people are using the term bitcoin as a generic word for all crypto or do they specifically just mean bitcoin.
I know. I love the dips. That is when I cash out from poker sites. Got another 5k yesterday. Finally have a little ethereum.
I get a little mad when it's bulling higher and higher and I want to cash out. I get tired of waiting. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin:
And the rebound begins
I waded in the other day. Lost 4% pretty quick and I could see what was coming so I bailed. Went back in early this morning but accidentally bought out of my bank account instead of my credit card. So it will take 9 days for the transaction to complete. :-)
So I tried out of of credit card and Coinbase said I hit some investment limit for the month.
I am missing out on this rebound. And I'm very irritated. [Reply]