I will grant that you have fine taste in Gifs.  Some light in this time is of course medicinally... necessary.

Fuck even Bob posted a nice lady gif, bless him

I love this thread, un-PC and looney as it always is.

And some!  On paper....   

If quantitive easing (QE, or 'money printing') is over, then free money is not being flung out to all and sundry (with nowhere to invest it, since interest rates have been so low) as it has been since 2008.  Now things have been picking up, so inflation will come, and interest rates will accordingly rise.

Plus there is some doubt that Trump's tax giveaway is well-timed (at the end of a recession when things are hotting up and tax revenues should be paying back for 'the bad years').   If the tax break isn't right for now, and it means less revenue and more borrowing for the US gov't, then Gilts (government borrowing) will increase in rates because the USG needs to borrow more.

So rates go up and up, and suddenly gov't bonds are a better deal.  So more money can stay safe in bonds - PLUS companies can't borrow to invest as cheaply, so make less profits.  Perfect storm if it pans out and the US stock markets know it.

So shares are less of a good deal anymore and money doesn't need to look for new assets - if it's just easier to get higher returns from (safe) interest elsewhere via bonds and lending.

Why gold isn't rising is not clear - because more inflation means 'safe havens' should be picking up, but that may take time.  Maybe paper gold is not what people want (which is what most of the gold market actually is).

I meant arguing whether the price went under 6K - but I can happily agree about Finex.   I only go in occasionally for something that is impossible to do elsewhere, and only for as short a time as possible. 

I am based in the EU, so Stamp - which paid back when it was hacked, and generally doesn't fall down - suits me.

Polo doesn't trade USD /BTC, better reference an exchange that does, maybe? Polo is usually a little higher than (say) Bitstamp - which I personally prefer, and Finex arbs with Stamp, too, usually linking prices between them (roughly)

What a difference the simple addition of an adjective makes... 

Some of us know that, Tera...

Merit granted - may you ascend to your rightful status

Always enjoy you sticking your neck out with impossibly unpredictable market forecasts.  You've been right enough in the past though to warrant a reckless fresh one...

Merit for fun.

What I am very interested in is firstly, BTC and your 'flippening' prediction. Then, secondly, Monero's place - which I DO hope you're correct on.   Right now, personally I'd be happy just to be top 10 (and above Dash).  That would make my day and it's not too much of  stretch to hope for, either.

Yep, we are suddenly tracking it. In the past it's been an inverse relationship, but occasionally we've synced up, and rallied alongside BTC, which is a perfect situation if you have both.

The only thing is - BTC needs to hold the high 8K range - and that's not something I would bank on, even over the weekend...

Let's keep out fingers crossed that actually was the BTC bottom and hitch a ride up with it - we certainly look one of the better alts just now.

Yep, - be nice to find that WAS the bottom, no one will be happier than me.  But let's see!

Well, volume's up for sure.

Is this the dump to finish them all?

As long as it's a large enough organ for a whole vase... 

I agree, after Gox, Bitcoin really did look in peril.  It doesn't look like that now.  I am hoping for a quicker bounce back that that godawful 2014-2015 grind was.  Let's hope the bottom is definitively found soon.

Congrats on your ascent, have a merit!

The 'shrug stage' is the first sign of ascent. You're almost there already 

Lack of trolls here is not a good sign, nope - but right now it's all about the mothership. BTC needs to find its bottom (and preferably fast!).

We were holding well against BTC (but of course losing in fiat terms) today it looks like we aren't such a particularly special case and we are losing ground against BTC too.   I am hoping this means we are approaching the point of the bottom for BTC and thus, the whole market.

I think alts will be drained further as BTC looks closer to the bottom, because people simply will want to buy BTC at its low, rather than hold any alt.

One last capitulation and blood on the streets will sort it, then we can find a new base.  Alts will slingshot up once BTC does - but faster.   Of course this is a shakeout for the weakest alts.  I expect Monero to do better than most, simply as it has quality and a damn good use case.

No one knows any better - certainly not anyone slamming you for your first post, which was fine, don't worry.  Have a merit.

Ha!  Actually it's been like a ball bouncing down stairs, if you play tight spreads on buys and sells, it's possible to make money (or for me the preferable 'extra coins') buy selling local tops and buying back bottoms (only in a 200 or 300 USD range, of course).  It's just a bloody time-consuming job.  Of course overall your stash price is decreasing in value, but at least you have the compensation of more coin, or more cash aside according to your long term strategy on BTC.

This is getting close to the 'blood on the streets' point.

But it is wise to see why the speed of this drop is actually positive - who wants a two year bear market?  2014 / 2015 all over again?  No thanks.  Give me the fall now, show us the real bottom, cut the dead wood back and we will see the growing back far sooner.

It'll be good to see one more dump from hell IMHO.  

Bitcoin and crypto in general is not dead, right? After Gox, it did look like it might all be over - that is not the case now, nowhere near it.  So at some point there is a price to buy hand-over-fist coming up.  This drop is not manipulation, it's not news, it's just how it is.  We went incredibly high until weak hands FOMO'd it even higher, perhaps irrationally so.  These weak hands are being shaken out and once they are we will find a base to rise from.

The coins you buy now, may not see a profit immediately, but they definitely will in time.   How much time, no one knows.  But Bitcoin has NOT seen its last ATH.  That is so probable, it's a good enough probability to speak of as certainty.

EDIT: for sense.

Even if they did have the USD backing, I cannot imagine them not using it rather than keeping it sitting in a bank.   Human nature being what it is, it's not plausible.  I have never touched Tether, always seen it as too good to be true.