after all the years some people still fall for the panic fud created by others to get the price down. noobs keep selling on the way down, and buy on the way up. they constantly lose money with their panic. some people never learn...

it's nice if we will get more online merchants on board, but we need a lot more physical merchants to accept bitcoin as payment option. that will give people much more reason to start spending bitcoin to buy their daily needs. it also gives people reason to use bitcoin more as currency. and once these physical merchants see that the locals are spending a lot bitcoins in that area, then they will also start to accept bitcoin as payment tool. see it as a chain reaction. that is the moment i am waiting for.

i also don't think we'll see the price touch the $1000 price level any time soon. that's why i said 'if at some point the price goes over $1000 again'.

it is possible, but not very likely to happen. the block rewards being decreased with 50% doesn't automatically means the price will double. the current market is under control of wealthy traders and large mining farms. if they so wish, they can definitely get the price to $800 this year. but they will not simply pump the price so all other traders and pools can dump the price down again. they are smart enough to know how to manipulate the market in their favor without risking people selling down the price they build up.

i completely agree with you. i really don't know why people keep thinking about prices higher than $10,000 while we haven't even managed to break through $600 or even $1000 again. there is really no point in doing that. if at some point the price goes over $1000 again, then i can kinda understand that people start to fantasize about bitcoin reaching $2000 and higher. but so far we are faaaaar away from reaching the $1000 price level.

there is nothing in bitcoin that i dislike. the only thing i might want to see change is probably the confirmation times. but i don't think these will ever be changed. so i don't really have problems with it.

how is bitcoin not money. bitcoin can fuction as multi tool for plenty of things. it's a currency, it's a store of wealth, you can use it as an investment tool, you can store data on its block chain etc. i mostly use my smartphone in combination with my banking app to pay for my daily needs in store. i barely use physical money anymore. tell me how is that different from you using bitcoin as currency to pay for things in combination with for example your smartphone.

bitcoin isn't a get rich quick tool anymore. right now if you want to make a decent profit you have to hold your coins for a longer period of time. i am a long term bitcoin holder and find the current stability very nice. it also allows me to buy the same amount of bitcoins with the same amount of fiat. usually due to the volatility the amounts you would get for your fiat were changing constantly. previous month i could buy 1 bitcoin for around $420 and today i can buy 1 bitcoin for around $415 which is fantastic.

i think a lot people here will be very disappointed when the price stays around $500 at the end of the year. it's mainly due to them having way too high expectations from the block halving. they think the price might even touch $1000 before the end of the year. they only don't realize what it takes to get the price to $1000. there will me massive amounts of sell orders popping up at every round price level as $500-$600-$700 and so on. it's not that easy as some may think.

this stable price is good for people that are using bitcoin as store of value. it's nice to see that something with a value of $500 for example is still worth around $500 a few months later. that gives people a good and safe feeling. if the price keeps going up and down heavily, then it might scare off a lot people. i am sure that the higher the total market cap is, the more stable the price will be eventually. we just need to have patience and everything will be just fine.

if you really expect the price to reach $1000 this year, then you should buy plenty of coins right now and sell when the price reaches $1000 by the end of the year.

most people just assume the upcoming block halving will make the price go up to very high price levels, but people don't seem to realize that the price can also go down. no matter how small the chances are, it is a possibility. one thing is sure, no matter what happens, we will definitely be able to make profits as there will be a lot volatility in the runup to the block halving.

no one will keep their coins for ever. all people plan to sell or spend their coins at some point in the future. profits will definitely be secured. no worries.

of course it's better to hold your coins for the long term, but the problem is that people here don't have any patience. they expect the price to swing around 10-20% every week so they can trade and make profit. the current stable price point above $400 makes them bored. these people will never be long term holders. they want high profits every week.

if you know how to read the market and have enough patience, then you can make a more than decent amount with trading throughout the year. however, a lot people here don't have much patience as they are chasing quick profits. these people will mostly switch to an altcoin if the bitcoin price doesn't move much. they get bored and invest without thinking about the risks.

for side jobs it's not a problem if you earn everything in bitcoin since it mostly is a smaller payment and not important like your full salary. i personally would never want my salary to be paid fully in bitcoin as long as the price is volatile as it has been for years. there are bills that have to be paid as mortgage, insurances, daily needs, and the list goes on. it's not nice to see your $2000 salary to be paid out in bitcoin and the next day the price goes down with 10%.

i was too greedy at the very beginning as the price quite frequently was moving up and down with around 40-50% per month back then. but i have learned from all the mistakes i made at that time. and now i am making some decent profits.

the market cap of bitcoin is indeed very low, but this also shows that there is plenty of room for potential profits compared to the massive market cap of gold. gold is considered to be the safe haven investment by quite some people. i think the younger generation is more likely to invest in something as bitcoin as they have been growing up with technology and so on. the older generation is too old fashion and they are the sort of people that will prefer to put their money in gold.

it's very difficult to accumulate around 100 bitcoins nowadays. people with a good eye for potential investment gems have been collecting bitcoin when the price was far below the $100 price level. these people will be and have been rewarded greatly for their trust and patience in bitcoin. the only thing people can do nowadays is trying to generate and buy as many coins as they can and save them up till they have a decent amount.

the price is constantly being manipulated. the price being stable for a while doesn't mean the price isn't being manipulated. china's influence on the price is gigantic. they rule nearly the entire mining aspect of bitcoin. nearly all the pumps are initiated on chinese exchanges. exchanges as bitfinex just follow what is happening in china. stable price means a stable mining income for the chinese pools. nothing happens without a good reason.