Bitcoin Forum

Yep, that's right. I'm a noob and would like to go short in bitcoinica. What are the steps to do it? I know going long, I just need to click on buy at market price or set a limit but how do you go short?

just sell at market or limit to go short.

Then cry :-P.

Exactly. I got long in bitcoinica with 5:1 leverage at $2.06.  When I tried to withdraw my winnings this week they didn't have enough money in Mt. Gox to cover it, so I had to exchange them for bicoins and take the bitcoins.  So I'm still long, just at the 1:1  ratio now  :D

:o


Must've made a shitload there...

sounds like u funded the original trade with USD's?

i don't get it.  they've claimed repeatedly they could cash you out in USD's by selling for you on gox?  what gives?

So going long is buying at market price or limit price and hold it until the price goes up?
And going short is selling at market price or limit until the price goes down and you liquidate your position?

Yes, and now that it spiked to $6 you might be able to make a small profit... just don't get greedy because it will be moving back up.

I funded the account with a MtGox USD voucher.  When I closed my position I had over 5x the USD that I started with.  I tried to withdraw from Bitcoinica with a MtGox USD voucher, and they did not have enough funds available to give me the voucher.  I even tried a small amount of $100 and got the same error "Mt Gox limit temporarily reached" or something like that.

So I exchanged the USD for Bitcoins in bitcoinica, and just withdrew them to my personal bitcoin wallet, and it worked out just fine.

I've been having the same issue and used the same solution a couple times now, but kinda displeased because the exchange rate on bitcoinica compared to gox kinda blows

that blows as far as i'm concerned.  everyone of those Bitcoinica pumpers assured me that the longs in a one directional mkt up like we have now and even in a red flag event had immediate access to USD's to cash out.

you won't think it worked out just fine if the btc price plummets.  you should not be restricted in your options like that esp. when Zhou has assured us that this shouldn't be a problem.

Cypherdoc, this issue has nothing to do with the redflag event. The "Mt Gox limit temporarily reached" error is caused by the daily withdrawal limit that Mtgox sets for all clients, including Bitcoinica. Of course they already had it increased, but it's still not enough to cover all the withdrawals every day. It's already been posted on these forums here somewhere. I'll see if I can find the original post.

I concur.

just b/c you have an explanation doesn't make it an ideal situation.  if Bitcoinica has a USD limit that IS a problem that shouldn't be dismissed.  anytime a restriction is placed on customers ability to perform a tx of their choosing it exposes them to unnecessary losses. in this particular case he wanted to move to USD's, a flat position.  he was forced to move to BTC instead.  if we have a rally reversal he won't be so sanguine with what happened anymore. don't you understand that?  

Exactly.  The "Exchange" function on Bitcoinica is not at all what i wanted to do, but I was forced to.  And the exchange rate that I got was 5% above the Mt. Gox ask price.  But its the only way I could move funds out of Bitcoinica, which is what I wanted to do.

That's why I tell that ICBIT (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50817.0) is going to be better for this. In case of futures contracts for USD/BTC rate, the current pricing is fully determined by existing supply and demand, there is no hidden "middlemen" who sets the exchange rate. The exchange acts only as a clearing pool and escrow service.

However, there could be some limitations in the moments of low liquidity, in the worst case it would just limit losses and profits of some traders. No money in/out restrictions, obviously.

Just contact Zhou and he will do a manual withdrawal for you, exchanging it to BTC is pretty expensive, so just contact Zhou and he will handle it.