Anyone know much about Bitcoin?

[Russ Smith]

Yeah I was kicking myself I nearly bought it about $180 a share but I was concerned about how volatile it was. I could have in theory made 10X on it in about 9 months, but in reality I would have NEVER held it long enough it's just so volatile it scares the crap out of you.

I've seen days where it opens up 8% and closes down 12% for no apparent reason, it doesn't actually trade hand in hand with bitcoin. There are some guys on Reddit who assuming they made the actual trades they said they did, made a killing on it, but even they were openly admitting how scared they were of the volatility.

GBTC up 422 bucks today to over 2200, that's 22%.

I have to admit it's hard not to feel bad for not getting in on something like this but the volatility is so crazy. in just the last few days I could have made about 40%

 

[Folster]

Some of the buying platforms are sketchy. Heard sometimes it can take 7-10 days to process a sell/buy. Don't like that aspect at all.

A large correction will be a sight to behold. A lot of people will be expecting stock exchange type liquidity.

I have no skin in the game currently. I've been considering IOTA, but since there is not a current exchange that will accept US dollars for it, I would have to buy BTC, ETH, or LTC and move it to an off shore exchange to purchase IOTA.

 

[Superbone]

I bought blockchain technology a little over a month and a half ago. $1000 of Etherium and $1000 of Litecoin. They are currently up over 50% combined. This is totally speculative. I'm prepared to lose it all.

Just a follow up on this. Today I sold a little less than half of my Litecoin position for $2300. My remaining positions of Etherium and Litecoin are currently worth about $5000. So I have locked in a small profit and now the rest is gravy as I'm working with house money.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Just a follow up on this. Today I sold a little less than half of my Litecoin position for $2300. My remaining positions of Etherium and Litecoin are currently worth about $5000. So I have locked in a small profit and now the rest is gravy as I'm working with house money.

Both of those went on some pretty good runs in the past week...good call on selling it. XRP is the next wave that's coming up...it has tripled in the past week also, and keeps going up.

 

[gmabel830]

Both of those went on some pretty good runs in the past week...good call on selling it. XRP is the next wave that's coming up...it has tripled in the past week also, and keeps going up.

Agree - I probably need to throw a little bit more money into BTC first to start investing in other alt-coins, but XRP seems like it is poised for huge growth (even though it's finally pulled back a tiny bit today) -- my employer, AMEX, recently inked a deal with them to dip our toe into the blockchain waters.

 

[Shaggy]

Agree - I probably need to throw a little bit more money into BTC first to start investing in other alt-coins, but XRP seems like it is poised for huge growth (even though it's finally pulled back a tiny bit today) -- my employer, AMEX, recently inked a deal with them to dip our toe into the blockchain waters.

Nice!

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think it's bitcoin related but it's apparently blockchain, Longfin Technologies or LFIN. Friday it was up about 305% today it's up 475%. It's so up that I'm suspicious it's some sort of split or reverse split and Yahoo Finance is just listing it incorrectly?

And GBTC is now over 3000 up another 20% today.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

I don't think it's bitcoin related but it's apparently blockchain, Longfin Technologies or LFIN. Friday it was up about 305% today it's up 475%. It's so up that I'm suspicious it's some sort of split or reverse split and Yahoo Finance is just listing it incorrectly?

And GBTC is now over 3000 up another 20% today.

Blockchain is something I'm very interested in, and think it has a viable future. LFIN is an IPO that has skyrocketed due to its acquisition of blockchain. It's initial offering was $5 and hit a high of $142 in a matter of days. Insane.

 

[Russ Smith]

Blockchain is something I'm very interested in, and think it has a viable future. LFIN is an IPO that has skyrocketed due to its acquisition of blockchain. It's initial offering was $5 and hit a high of $142 in a matter of days. Insane.

There's definitely something wrong with the quotes on LFIN, now Yahoo has it at 84.39 which is the high for the day even though it was much higher earlier in the day according to Yahoo Finance.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Another hack on a Bitcoin exchange -- caused a drop of 10%...now sitting around 16K after hovering near the 19K mark.

 

[Russ Smith]

LFIN down over 30% today back at 46.20 and GBTC down over 20% for the 2nd straight day, 3rd straight day down.

Is the futures stuff hurting Bitcoin or is this related to the hacking stuff being discussed?

This sort of volatility is precisely why I didn't buy either.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

LFIN down over 30% today back at 46.20 and GBTC down over 20% for the 2nd straight day, 3rd straight day down.

Is the futures stuff hurting Bitcoin or is this related to the hacking stuff being discussed?

This sort of volatility is precisely why I didn't buy either.

Reports of insider trading, hacking, high transaction fees, long delays in buying/selling, etc.. are some of the reasons that are causing a mass exodus. BTC now down to a little below 14K...as well as other cryptos being hammered as a result. XRP is up, but pretty much every other crypto is down big. All the shorts are killing it right now.

 

[Dback Jon]

Anybody want to trade some bitcoin for some nice Tulip Bulbs?

 

[Russ Smith]

Reports of insider trading, hacking, high transaction fees, long delays in buying/selling, etc.. are some of the reasons that are causing a mass exodus. BTC now down to a little below 14K...as well as other cryptos being hammered as a result. XRP is up, but pretty much every other crypto is down big. All the shorts are killing it right now.

Yeah the speed at which this stuff goes up or down is terrifying if you can't get in and out quickly. That's what made GBTC interesting to me in the first place it is sort of an ETF so in theory it should be easier to get out. But it's absolutely crazy how fast it moves up or down.

Last Friday I sat and watched it for about 10 minutes and it went up and down 10% in that 10 minutes so a 20% swing in a matter of 10 minutes entirely on just momentum no news of course.

I guess we'll see, it's gone from well over 3000 to 1560 in a matter of days, if it keeps dropping I may consider putting 1000 dollars in there but I'm very leery it's just an insanely volatile stock

 

[elindholm]

Maybe someone can help me with this. I know that bitcoins are "mined" by computers solving really complex problems. But who composes the problems, and how is the accuracy of the solution verified? Also, when one is solved, is there an announcement, or does the new currency unit just appear in someone's ledger? Is only one problem being worked on at a time? If one team of computers is near the solution to a problem but another team gets there first, is the first team left with nothing?

 

[Russ Smith]

Yeah the speed at which this stuff goes up or down is terrifying if you can't get in and out quickly. That's what made GBTC interesting to me in the first place it is sort of an ETF so in theory it should be easier to get out. But it's absolutely crazy how fast it moves up or down.

Last Friday I sat and watched it for about 10 minutes and it went up and down 10% in that 10 minutes so a 20% swing in a matter of 10 minutes entirely on just momentum no news of course.

I guess we'll see, it's gone from well over 3000 to 1560 in a matter of days, if it keeps dropping I may consider putting 1000 dollars in there but I'm very leery it's just an insanely volatile stock

This thing is so volatile it's stunning. It's now UP to 2000 up 12% on the day.Low for the day 1150, high about 2000, so if you had bought it at 1150 today you could have made about 80% profit in 4 hours.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

This thing is so volatile it's stunning. It's now UP to 2000 up 12% on the day.Low for the day 1150, high about 2000, so if you had bought it at 1150 today you could have made about 80% profit in 4 hours.

I was watching that too. This is a flippers dream...short it when it peaks, and sell when it bottoms. Buy when it bottoms, and sell when it peaks. Rinse and repeat. Insanely volatile, but easy to make money on it if you time it right.

 

[elindholm]

easy to make money on it if you time it right.

Isn't that pretty much what everyone's trying to do? It's a lottery.

 

[Russ Smith]

Isn't that pretty much what everyone's trying to do? It's a lottery.

One of the bigwigs at Berkshire Hathaway referred to it as just gambling and he's right.

You're just randomly picking a low, buying it and then guessing when to sell and hoping you're close to right.

I don't think I'd buy it unless it got below 500 and to get that low is a total collapse, it's essentially 2000 now, so then you're still taking a huge gamble it might come back(again).

 

[elindholm]

One of the bigwigs at Berkshire Hathaway referred to it as just gambling and he's right.

You're just randomly picking a low, buying it and then guessing when to sell and hoping you're close to right.

I don't think I'd buy it unless it got below 500 and to get that low is a total collapse, it's essentially 2000 now, so then you're still taking a huge gamble it might come back(again).

Right. It's basically like any other commodity futures market, from what I understand. The price moves defy logic, so the only way to beat the game is to guess right.

 

[Russ Smith]

Right. It's basically like any other commodity futures market, from what I understand. The price moves defy logic, so the only way to beat the game is to guess right.

I'm talking about GBTC specifically which is not a future but sort of an ETF. It is supposed to track the price of Bitcoin but it doesn't actually track it close enough. SO you're not only trying to guess which way Bitcoin is going, you're trying to guess if GBTC will follow or not.

With most ETF's or stocks there's at least some logic to your guess, the sector is doing well, the company is doing well, they might get bought out etc. It's still a guess but at least there's some logic to why it goes up or down. Bitcoin has no such logic behind it and these other stocks that track it don't either.

It's totally driven by momentum and guessing. If you hit it right awesome, lots of money for doing nothing, but pretty scary to try it.

 

[gmabel830]

Agree - I probably need to throw a little bit more money into BTC first to start investing in other alt-coins, but XRP seems like it is poised for huge growth (even though it's finally pulled back a tiny bit today) -- my employer, AMEX, recently inked a deal with them to dip our toe into the blockchain waters.

Ripple (XRP) has gone up from $0.25 to $3.50 in the last month. I finally bought some yesterday - should really have bought when I made the above post though!!

 

[DutchmanAZ]

How do you buy and sell this stuff?

 

[Shaggy]

Ripple (XRP) has gone up from $0.25 to $3.50 in the last month. I finally bought some yesterday - should really have bought when I made the above post though!!

You promoted it and didn't buy it then? Ouch!

 

[gmabel830]

You promoted it and didn't buy it then? Ouch!

Yeah, pretty much. lol. I looked into it and would have had to go figure out a new exchange to trade on and wallet to store on -- was on my to-do list before I crashed and did nothing over holiday vacation.