from Hacker News

Bitcoin just broke 400 USD

by bmilleare on 11/13/13, 8:22 PM with 105 comments

  • by uniclaude on 11/13/13, 9:07 PM

    To all those in this thread regretting having sold bictoins earlier because of some feeling. Don't be depressed, a lot of people did, and that's OK.

    You can still trade, but you have to switch your mindset to a trader's one, and regretting a "missed" opportunity and feeling "tempted" to buy while the asset is on the rise is impulsive. Learn how to trade, there are countless resources around, even though this is not only math, learning seriously can protect you from impulsive behavior.

    I'd say, if you want to invest in bitcoin, unless you're a serious believer (and that's fine, but in this case you probably already have some), do it like poker players manage their bankroll, use some money you can really afford to lose, so you can sleep at night and not feel too bad then the coin drops 25% over a day.

    Anyways, what I think is that we are on HN, where people make money using their skills and by creating value. Investing $10k by creating your company today might not only make more money than the same investment in some cryptocurrency, but also create something of value in the meantime.

    Want to join the bitcoin ride the hacker way? Build a service that uses the currency, or help people to use it.

    Disclaimer: I have nothing against bitcoin, I just think it's a little sad to regret not making a quick buck on something you have no real control on.

  • by oscilloscope on 11/13/13, 8:51 PM

    Bitcoin Average and Bitcoin Charts are two sites that provide much more information about the latest price than Coinbase's chart.

    Bitcoin Average does a volume-weighted price average across major exchanges.

    https://bitcoinaverage.com/#USD

    Bitcoin Charts gives you some historical information like the 30-day average for each exchange/currency pair.

    http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/

    If you want to look at candlesticks to track the latest price action, Bitcoinity tracks multiple exchanges.

    http://bitcoinity.org/markets

  • by fragsworth on 11/13/13, 8:51 PM

    Right now, the market cap is nearly $5 billion. An eventual market cap of $1 trillion or higher, however, is very realistic, if global banks pick it up as their default method of exchanging wealth. It effectively replaces risky physical shipments of gold and cash, and solves the (also risky) reliance on corporate/government credit worthiness for digital transfers of ownership.

  • by nilkn on 11/13/13, 8:49 PM

    Does anyone have an explanation for why the price is going up so high so fast? Is there something legitimately pushing the price up or is it pure speculation?

  • by foobarqux on 11/13/13, 8:56 PM

    Which trading exchanges allow you to withdraw money easily and promptly and have low liquidity and credit risk?

  • by Jtsummers on 11/13/13, 10:28 PM

    All of you talking about investing in bitcoins, why aren't you trying to earn bitcoins instead? To some extent you'd be able to establish your own exchange rate, or at least not be tossing money in at an inopportune moment, and instead throw time/materials into some project and grow the bitcoin economy. And, by growing the economy, you'll help to ensure that BTC's value might mantain, rather than diminish, when speculators pull out or toy with the market.

  • by spikels on 11/13/13, 9:00 PM

    I wonder how much of the recent BitCoin run up is driven by CryptoLocker?

    CryptoLocker demands 2 bitcoins (10 after initial deadline has passed) and there are only around 12 million BitCoins in circulation. I haven't seem any good estimates of how many people have been infected but it seems like it is quite a few. This additional demand could easily drive the price up although eventually the CyptoLocker extortionists would sell those BitCoins driving the price down.

  • by AlexMuir on 11/13/13, 9:02 PM

    Right, question time:

    Market cap is now $5 billion. Wealth can't be created, so where has that money come from? Have other currencies fractionally devalued?

    The cost of mining has been negligible until recently.

  • by kristianp on 11/13/13, 9:18 PM

    If you're thinking about trading bitcoin, I would suggest you don't use MtGox. It has problems with withdrawals of USD, and hence has an inflated bitcoin price compared to other exchanges [1]. Once your money is in there, the only fast way to get your money out is to withdraw bitcoin, hence the disparity.

    [1] http://www.cryptocoincharts.info/#jump-btc-usd

  • by BenderV on 11/13/13, 8:50 PM

    Funny that I almost invest in Bitcoin ten days ago...

    Really, I always feel it's a good moment to invest when I look at the last 3 days chart...but then I look at the 2y chart...Big Bubble.

    For the optimistics, I would suggest you to read that http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/11/an-illustr...

  • by sciguy77 on 11/13/13, 9:01 PM

    I bought some at $30 and sold at $260 right before the last crash (literally, 2 hours before). I felt all smug…

  • by SubuSS on 11/13/13, 8:58 PM

    So I see different rates in different websites. What prevents me from buying in one and selling in another? Do these automatically account for the exchange rates? from a quick look it doesn't seem so - I am wondering if short term trading is a bad idea. (With tiny amount of money of course).

  • by Aqueous on 11/13/13, 9:18 PM

  • by dysruption on 11/13/13, 8:47 PM

    I sold my remaining BTC when it was 140.. I thought that was high...

  • by lelf on 11/13/13, 9:05 PM

  • by nzealand on 11/13/13, 8:50 PM

    Things should get interesting when the Winklevoss' Bitcoin ETF is created. I wonder what the implied volatility will say about the cost of puts and calls...

  • by kclay on 11/13/13, 8:52 PM

    Bought some at the April bubble at 235, dropped the next day . So happy that it finally got back up but sad that I didn't buy more when it was at 40-75

  • by sciguy77 on 11/13/13, 8:58 PM

    Dear Hackers, Do something to produce a crash so I can buy more Bitcoin… please?

  • by rfnslyr on 11/13/13, 8:41 PM

    FUCK. Is all I have to say. When it was $200, I said "Fuck, I should probably wait". Same thing when it was $300. I'm so on the fence in investing in bitcoin. I feel like it's going to reach $10k/btc and I'll be living in a lifelong depression of "what could have been".

    Tempted to drop like 5k into it...

    I truly don't know what to do at this point. I could wait and see a drop that may or may not come, and I'll constantly be in the state of indecision that I feel ultimately will cripple me in the future.

    I think I'll buy 1BTC/mo and see where it goes from there.