Bitcoin Forum

There is a demand for more thorough documentation at Bitcoinica, and I am working with Zhou to provide this as quickly as possible.  I need general suggestions to get a better idea of:

1) Exactly what areas need most documentation? -- I get PMs asking very basic questions about Bitcoinica.  This would imply a need for some sort of tutorial.  I am contrasting this with the posts that I see on the board, which seem to ask for more details on more technical topics (such as red flag events, the asterisk, reserves, zhoutonging price, etc.)

2)  To what extent these areas need documentation.

Keep in mind:  The preliminary draft will be in the form of a sort of Table of Contents page.

Thank you for participating.

Very agreed... excellent suggestion, thank you.

The zhoutong price should be the clearly visible with information what this actually means so no misunderstandings are possible. I have actually no idea why this hasn't been done yet since a lot of people have been asking and Zhou even took time to post it here so I guess he could've implemented it in his site with little effort in the same time period.

Can red flag events and Zhou's claim of guaranteed liquidity both exist?

Red flag - one-sided guaranteed liquidity
Normal - full guaranteed liquidity

If you have a short position when no buying red flag happens - full guaranteed liquidity
If you have a long position when no selling red flag happens - full guaranteed liquidity

I had a long position recently when the red flag was on the buy button.  I was sad that I couldn't buy more BTC at a price lower than my base price.  Is this not a valid concern or problem for your guaranteed liquidity?

Thank you for trying to answer, its entirely possible I just dont understand some of the vocabulary.

But they can't pull more money out  of thin air. If they are out of money, they are out of money. And they need to keep some reserves to make sure shorts are still allowed to close their positions. That's why the red-flag sometimes prevents guaranteed liquidity on one side.

Being out of money on a guaranteed liquidity site is an oxymoron. Right?

A disclaimer is probably in order on this point.

Yes please

What it really means is that they give guaranteed liquidity for at least 50BTC blocks, which means that if your limit order gets hit, you will trade at least 50BTC and not only 20BTC for example. Zhoutong, please correct me if I'm wrong. If there's a red-flag, no more trading on that side is allowed until it is gone. (With the exception of closing old positions of course)

Agreed.

Big-picture overview of forex-style trading and how a platform (such as Bitcoinica) fits in with an 'exchange'.  A graphic would be nice.  Contrast with futures markets would probably provide extra insight.

It never was clear to me the concept of 'order' -> 'execution' -> 'position' -> 'liquidation'.  For instance, who is ordering what from whom exactly, and how does it differ under the various types of orders.

Glad to see Bitcoinica taking an interest in this aspect of the business.

I just want to bump this thread to let everyone know that I'm still looking for more specific input on this -- the more details, the better.

One thing I am still undecided on is the format of this new documentation.  Bitcoinica already contains an FAQ and a Help system.

Should the FAQ be beefed up?  If so, what questions would you like to see addressed that are not currently addressed?

I like "myself"'s suggestion above that there should be another page with graphics and a lot of text that explains what each button / area does.

Any input provided will be helpful in this endeavor.

A video tutorial of how to operate the site may be good for new users.  Otherwise some documents on how Bitcoinica operates, how margin calls are determined, calculators to determine the number of units that can be bought/sold, and a demo paper trader would be my suggestions.  One thing the site looks like it is missing is legal disclaimers and terms of use.

Damned >:(
Wheres that documentation already?!
People loos money that they dont have to. People are turning away from bitcoinica because they dont understand it.
Get going already!

Go play the slots...

much easier to actually make money. lol

LOL @ this thread.

LOLz indeed.

I had officially declined the job because at the time, I had to focus on school work.  I thought someone would have picked up the job by now.

I'll have a break from school starting July 2; if this is still a thing that needs to be done at that point, I'll help work on it if necessary.

The main issue I found with the project was my lack of forex skills / knowledge, but it seems Bitcoinica is kind of its own thing...

I still use Bitcoinica on a daily basis.  If anyone has any questions, I am still extending my offer of answering them to the best of my ability... just PM.

Id like to thank myself for showing me. It helped me alot. I'm still the smartest ;D