Bitcoin Forum

How likely are bitcoins to drop significantly in value in the near future?

First, define significantly.

They kind've just did a few days ago but on a much smaller scale. The price dropped less than 5 BTC in a few hours but soon recovered afterwards to the point where it kept a steady build up as it had previous to the fork in the chain.

There have been bubbles in the past like this, but never at this scale. In addition, this could be reflective of the reward halving and simple supply/demand mechanics. It might go lower again until the reward halves again but this is speculation; I'm basing that on nothing solid.

It's interesting to look at the BTC chart going back 6 months - 1 year. A real hockey stick curve is going on right now. And so many people on reddit saying "I got in at 25" or 35... and buying more. Feels a little like a bubble to me.

In the near future, who knows... I think that Bitcoin will be worth a lot more in the long run.

There will probably be a crash soon, but I don't think it'll be particularly dramatic. Just a gut feeling. Bitcoins are useful and will continue to be useful for a long time.

Honestly, I don't think it will crash.

That it will.

the way i see it, a crash to zero wouldn't be as big of a crash as its ability to rise...that is, it has more room to rise than it has to crash.
either way, people shouldn't be worrying about its value as much as they should be worrying about its usefulness.

History has shown that it will not crash unless something triggers it to crash.

The best way to support it is to become familiar with the online products and services that accept Bitcoin. If you are planning to buy something then utilize those Websites. You do not need to hold the BTC for long. Simply go to an exchange buy the amount of BTC you need, and then immediately purchase the product or service. This is a very good way of supporting the community.  :)

Of course you can also hold some BTC as an investment, but the important thing is to support Websites that accept BTC.

Newbie question: is there a directory of merchants that accept BTC?  Next stop, Google ;-)  TIA

I think there will be blips but it is just going to steadily increase now. Hope you got/get them while there hot!!

I don't think it will crash..... Bitcoin is getting too popular now (I kick myself for not getting involved with it when I first heard about it a year ago). It is getting more and more mainstream.

There are a few, but this is the most comprehensive: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade

I really hope it doesnt crash, there are so many uses for it.

Such as?

The normal meaning of the word "Crash" is a massive change in value. The MTGOX hack of 2011 did cause a crash, but a reduction of 10% in value or less is in no way a crash.

One of the things that you need to think about is how people would behave if the price fell by let us say 10%. If everyone is saying (to themselves) wow! if it falls 10% I'm selling, then that is the mechanism of a crash and thats how it would happen. More selling, a viscious circle. Thats what causes a crash.

My experiance is that in fact most people, noobs and pros alike, are saying Wow!, it falls 10%, Cheap coins, I'd be in there faster than you could say MtGox (or Bitstamp)!! I want to BUY!! In fact the fervour to buy during the recent "flash dip" I felt was almost indecent. There are many, many Geeks, that fully understand the beauty and mechanisms of Bitcoin and think that it is of massive utility and that there will always be a place in the modern world for Bitcoin. I cannot say if it will replace Paypal or visa, but you know it can be pretty successful without ever doing that, and in fact it just might. We can all see now that Paypals "method" of solving the money transmission problem, is just so wrong. They have made paypal work inspite of many problems, hats of to them, but its the old way to do things, its a dinosaur from the year 2000 and even they know it!

There is no doubt in my mind that the utility, and revolutionary nature of bitcoin is worth a very great deal, and this (to my way of thinking) is why a real "Crash" is unlikely. Geeks and others know this and would happly take advantage of any cheap coins that occurred. There would be no "vicious circle" and so no Crash.  As long as so many people believe in Bitcoin, (and they do), there will be no crash! Forks? How clever is it that because of the tree like nature of the blockchain, entries that become orphaned get incorporated into the true chain later on, sh** that is clever. Wow!! Forkproof? Well, nearly!

The day after the fork incident I came across a man in our local post office with a BIG wallet of £20 notes. The man at the counter would not accept them. They were old notes he said. Sure enough when I compared it to the measily one in my pocket, it was, the Royal Mint did a currency fork and invalidated the old notes without even telling me. This man had notes under the mattress and now has to got to a bank, fill in forms, say where he got the money etc, and it may be weeks before he gets it returned to him.
Fork proof? Noway!!

My advice is not to worry about a crash. You have the chance to buy something here that in a few years will most likely be worth between $200 to $1000. Think thats unlikely? Think again my friend.

Does not look like a crash from here.  More like a moonshot.  If Cyprus shenanigans are a hint of things to come, Katie bar the door! ;)

I don't think it can crash, unless there is something seriously wrong with the protocol that hasn't been discovered yet.

Either that, or if BTC is replaced by a newer, better cryptocurrency. If that were to happen, I'm sure most of us would know ahead of time and switch over.

sky rocketing, is it going up to fast?

Cyprus.  People are looking for alternatives to the Euro, and who can blame them?

62.000000000000

I'm counting on it to crash so I can get in st lower than 60!

BTC market is worth ~600 million. Total USD market ~6 trillion. If you are optimistic, that is 4 orders of magnitude for potential growth. That means a BTC would be worth $600,000 if they were to replace USD today @ $60/btc. Even if the supply of BTC doubles (which it will), that means each coin is ~$300,000. That said, if you purchase speculative assets, expect your investment to go to zero.