Bitcoin Forum

I know many previous false alarms for a bubble have been raised, but I'd like to discuss a possible explanation for the rapid appreciation in prices.

Currently Mt Gox has no limit on how much money can be deposited, but there is a limit on how much money can be withdrawn. This means that the inflow of funds is unrestricted, but the outflow is restricted. Could this assymetry be part of the reason why bitcoins are appreciating so wildly?If traders were allowed to withdraw large amounts from the exchange, wouldn't prices be more stable?

Does this sound plausible?

Where is the limit on withdrawals posted?  I've heard it's $1k/USD/day worth of BTC, but does this apply to USD as well?

No, not plausible. The ones withdrawing are mostly miners I would say.

Why should they buy again what they just sold ;)

You can sell as many bitcoins as you want in a day so I don't think the speed of getting funds out of Mt.Gox has much effect.

There could be some small effect. Those who wanted to sell bitcoins in order to pay for something expensive, but still expected prices to go up, would sell at most $1kUSD a day. Also if someone changed their mind and decided to buy back some bitcoins part of their funds might still be on Mt.Gox due to them not being able to withdraw it all at once.

I believe it applies to both USD and BTC.

Is MtGox inflating the bubble?
What bubble?   :D

Just in the last hour, bitcoins appreciated from $18 to $23.60. If that's not a buying mania fueling a bubble, what is?

The most incredible form of money ever?
Possibly even more than gold.

I love Bitcoins and I'm also sane enough to know about this:
Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds (http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Madness-Crowds/dp/051788433X)

According to this

http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/mtgoxUSD_trades.html

in the last hour alone people burned half a million US dollars buying bitcoins :)

And Mt Gox made tens of thousands of dollars.

Well Im pissed,  I decided to buy BTC at 9$  and between the crappy dwolla and tortoise slow mtgox, its been more than a week and I have yet to get a dollar into MTGOx or buy 1 frigging BTC.

 >:(

so much for being right at the right time....when there are middle men and dollar conversions.

Well, I found about bitcoin back when it was just 20 cents. Back then it was even harder to purchase it. You either had to go through liberty dollar, or cash in the mail.

Same w\ me.  I was trying to buy  @ 8.50 and couldn't get anybody to sell to me w\ paypal.  Took over a week to get any money into mtgox account ( idk why they don't take cc? )

Too many problems with credit card charge backs

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I have an honest question. Does this make you want Bitcoins more or less?

Want bitcoins? Really it makes me want to shrug my shoulders and walk away.  I would if My money werent somewhere in cyberspace between dwolla and mtgox.
 There is is no transparency to the owner of moving funds. Lack of transparency is great if you want people out of your business, but
lack of transparency as to where  your funds are after 4 -9 days (as the BTC moves tirelessly ahead) is for the proles. 

MtGox isn't Bitcoin.

If you don't like the dealer, you can still love the product.

I see. I assumed the difficulty that you experienced with transferring your money would make the ease of Bitcoin transfers look even better. At least that's how I would see it.

It's getting near time for some fraction of the Bitcoin newbies to realize that it isn't actually magic and pack up and go home.