BitCoin almost doubles previous peak.

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#rg360zig6-hourztgSzm1g10zm2g25

by Ihmahr • 13 years ago

33 57 13 years ago

bitcoincharts.com

a3voices8• 13 years ago

Only two more doubles to go, and I'm a millionaire. Woohoo.

josephagoss4• 13 years ago

520 Bitcoins?

a3voices8• 13 years ago

501. So needs to go up a little more than 4x.

simondlr• 13 years ago

It seems this rally has stronger market support on the downswings (ie doesn't crash completely). I'd take that as a good thing?

rjtavares• 13 years ago

The good thing for a currency is to have a stable value. This is certainly not a good thing for people that want Bitcoins to be actually used instead of just stockpiled.

networked• 13 years ago

As the exchange rate rises buying Bitcoin will become ever more tempting. For those who haven't bought any Bitcoin yet do you think it's a good idea to commit now, Odysseus-style, to not buy Bitcoin as an investment for N years?

Edit: What I mean by "commitment" is that you absolutely won't invest in Bitcoin during that time no matter what happens to the exchange rate.

qwerta• 13 years ago

Time to buy bitcoins was 12+ months ago. Now it is way too volatile and cashing out could be problematic.

a3voices8• 13 years ago

If you bought Bitcoin a month ago, your investment would have doubled, so clearly your logic is off.

panarky• 13 years ago

12 months ago I said the same thing. The exchange rate looked insanely high at the time.

12 months from now, what will I say? Maybe $459 per bitcoin will look insanely cheap in hindsight.

Or maybe it will be seen as an unsustainable speculative mania.

mike_esspe• 13 years ago

Bitcoin is still in the early adopters phase.

Kequc2• 13 years ago

I feel that it is obviously definitely not a good time to buy Bitcoin as it is at a peak in a speculative bubble. But additionally the world's largest exchange of Bitcoin (the magic the gathering online exchange) isn't allowing anyone to cash out. You are put on a waiting list.

So to actually cash out you need to visit that one ATM in Vancouver, which gives you access to $1000/day if there's money in it. Or you need to sell your Bitcoin to someone or buy something with them.

None of these are good reasons to buy Bitcoin.

a3voices8• 13 years ago

Bitcoins are actually really easy to sell. Just transfer them to coinbase.com.

rys• 13 years ago

There are myriad exchanges other than Mt.Gox. that let you cash out quickly and easily.

narcissus2• 13 years ago

I don't know if it's because I have given up coffee or what, but this post just rubbed me the wrong way for at least three reasons.

Mt.Gox is not the world's largest exchange: most would agree that BTC China is, and possibly Bitstamp is coming in second.

Mt.Gox is called Mt.Gox. It used to stand for Magic the Gathering Online Exchange. It does not anymore. Whatever your thoughts on the site, you have to at least give them the fact that you can no longer exchange MtG cards on the site, so that is no longer their market. They kept the name and pivoted what they do. If you can't handle people pivoting on HN of all places, good luck. Or maybe you're the kind of person that refers to LG as "that cheap ass Lucky Goldstar" too?

Finally, Mt.Gox is definitely experiencing delays for North American withdrawals, and to a lesser (?) extent Europe. However they're not 'not allowing' anyone to cash out. I have no doubt, for example, that in Japan it's all good... their problems are with their bank.

Anyway, hate on BTC and Mt.Gox for whatever reasons you want... but surely if your going to use reasons to persuade people away from something, you should at least use truth?

cantankerous5• 13 years ago

I'm no currency expert, but if these exchanges aren't liquid enough and some of them queue up payouts like they do, wouldn't that contribute to a bubble in the price? More money going into the commodity and the outflow of money artificially limited? I get interested in buying in every now and again and am totally creeped out by the general shady nature of every exchange.

aristidesfl2• 13 years ago

Mt.Gox is the main reason of the current raise in bitcoin price.

As Mt.Gox users have difficulty cashing out dollars, the only option they have is to convert those dollars to bitcoin (buy bitcoins on Mt Gox), or risk loosing all the money. At the same time spread they spread panic on forums, so a large quantity of people who have funds in MtGox in form of dollars, is currently trying to buy bitcoins on Mt. Gox, making the price raise.

That is also the reason Mt. Gox bitcoin price is much higher than other markets.

olalonde2• 13 years ago

The boring answer is no one knows. My personal theory is that within a few years, either Bitcoin will be worth a lot (5 digits?) or it will be worth nothing.

_wmd• 13 years ago

I'm not a Bitcoin enthusiast, so coming at this from a pessimistic angle, it's increasingly starting to look like Bitcoin is here to stay. That still doesn't make it a good investment for 99.99% of people (nor does any poorly understood asset managed by an amateur!)

heliodor6• 13 years ago

Is there a chart of bitcoin prices that goes further back in time than bitcoincharts.com? And preferably logarithmic scale.

josephagoss4• 13 years ago

Bitcoincharts has a log option... Its right there on the same page you just looked at.

EDIT: Also check the date range, Bitcoincharts has almost all historical data.

heliodor6• 13 years ago

I always use that log option. It's amazing that people look at the normal chart.

olalonde2• 13 years ago

http://bitcoinwisdom.com/markets/mtgox/btcusd

tcatm• 13 years ago

Well, you could look at the charts of exchanges before mtgox, like bitcoinmarket.com with data from 2010:

PayPal USD: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bcmPPUSD#czsg2010-01-01zeg20...

LibertyReserve USD: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/bcmLRUSD#czsg2010-01-01zeg20...

Expez• 13 years ago

If bitcoins are going to be used for anything at all, the rise in value is likely to continue for a while longer. One can argue, and I might agree, that the velocity of money is greater in the bitcoin economy, but I still think the small size of the bitcoin economy (little over $5 000 000 000 atm) is limiting.

cantankerous5• 13 years ago

I find myself wanting to get into the bitcoin speculation game, if only nominally with some small denomination (say 0.1 BTC or something). Can anybody else speak to or give advice on getting over the creepiness factor of finding and using an exchange? Are some more reputable than others? Places like MtGox don't inspire confidence and the physical location of many exchanges gives me concerns about them in the event of some kind of dispute.

I feel like if I were to do business with an exchange, I'd need to start a whole new bank account just to do it to keep my real account info hidden away from exchanges and potential bad actors. Is this a completely irrational feeling to have?

citricsquid• 13 years ago

All the legitimate exchanges require identity verification (passport etc.). If you want to trade without revealing your identity you'll have a difficult time, but you can try localbitcoins.com for trading in person.

cantankerous5• 13 years ago

That's not my issue. I'm fine using my real identity. I'm more interested in knowing if some exchanges are considered more trustworthy than others.

heliodor6• 13 years ago

MtGox is having its troubles right now. I've used CampBX and Coinbase reliably without any problems about a year ago. I can't speak to the withdrawal process though, other than to say I wouldn't do it through MtGox anytime soon.

There's enough liquidity in the top exchanges that discrepancies in sell-prices from one exchange to another are indicative of people's trust in being able to withdraw their money from that particular exchange.

cantankerous5• 13 years ago

Sounds good. I will check those out, thanks!

Zidewinder• 13 years ago

If you want to keep things simple and maintain your privacy, you should check out services like BitQuick (http://www.bitquick.co) and Blue Sky Traders (http://ok2yri46aaptiu2d.onion). These services allow you to buy bitcoins by simply depositing cash into someone else's bank account. No ID required or anything. There's another similar service called http://www.cashintocoins.com, but I don't have any experience with them and they're apparently having issues with their SSL certificate right now.

Even if you do want to use an exchange in order to rapidly trade your coins and profit from price dips, depositing coins into an exchange is a lot easier and possibly more anonymous than depositing dollars.

Then if you decide to sell the coins, you can move them off the exchange and offer them on localbitcoins.com for physical cash.

80• 13 years ago

I'd recommend LocalBitcoins. Had a transaction completed within 15 minutes of my first visit. No hoops to jump through and there's a feedback and escrow system in place. Maybe a less lucrative option in the US where you've got more choice.

aristidesfl2• 13 years ago

Mt.Gox is the main reason of the current raise in bitcoin price. As Mt.Gox users have difficulty cashing out dollars, the only option they have is to convert those dollars to bitcoin (buy bitcoins on Mt Gox), or risk loosing all the money. At the same time spread they spread panic on forums, so a large quantity of people who have funds in MtGox in form of dollars, is currently trying to buy bitcoins on Mt. Gox, making the price raise. That is also the reason Mt. Gox bitcoin price is much higher than other markets.

heliodor6• 13 years ago

Why are people still buying on MtGox? Is it easier and if so, how? I don't see any other reason to pay more.

a3voices8• 13 years ago

This is false. The main reason is Chinese adoption.

headgasket• 13 years ago

The FBI is holding 1.5% of all the volume right now, consigned. So just decreases the flow. My guess is the price will go up until Mr Ulrich has bee found guilty. At that point they'll cash out, and the spiral downward will start. My guess is 30$ the end of 2014, I might put some money on that if there was a reliable and reputable derivatives market.

hughlomas• 13 years ago

I am truly ignorant of anything relating to finance, can you explain why dumping only 1.5% of volume would be an issue?

BitCoin almost doubles previous peak.

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