oh, the other thing that was obvious, to me at least, was that Bitcoinica had come online in September with short selling. 

sprayed all over the forum were guffaws from the shorts high fiving about all the profits they'd made which was an indication of everyone on the same side of the boat.

this is where technical analysis becomes handy despite all the naysayers.  we had a declining wedge down to the $2 level.  it slowly started leveling out via the indicators revealing declining selling pressure.  you could see the momentum beginning to change.

also, inspection of the bid ask walls was instructive.  go back thru this thread and re read my warnings.  especially the one about the bid wall @$2.  lots of ppl around here called them fake.  they aren't.  you have to put up real money on mtgox to build a wall and ppl don't do it lightly b/c they can be hit by a market order before u can pull it down.

the best thing mtgox ever did for the community was to eliminate dark orders.  everything now is transparent unlike the Spring.

i remember seeing that massive wall form at $2.  i immediately sat up and wired a shitload of USD's to mtgox to join that wall.  i don't remember exactly what the total amount of the wall ($150K i think) was but it was huge in comparison to the ask walls.  

it was clear a line was being drawn in the sand and i helped make it.  guys like Revalin will call that manipulation but i see it differently.  the fundamentals of Bitcoin are there and those of us who recognize that took advantage of what clearly was an oversold price.

first of all, if the price goes to $18, your base price for this 1btc will come down.

if you then short 100 btc @ $18, your base price will then be less than $18, when added to the base price of the 1btc.

if u close the 1btc short now, wait until the price hits $18, then short 100 btc @ $18, your base price will then be $18.

how recently?

this still doesn't make any sense.  if u think the price is headed to say $15, you're best off buying to cover this 1 BTC short, keeping all your profits in USD until we hit $15, then re shorting from there.

guys like him only speak when the price is going in the direction they want.

me, i spoke just as loudly on the way down as i am on the way up.

aka Bullish Flag

well, if you're original explanations to me were correct, the OP has it wrong.

if the * is showing up on the buy side and one can't buy BTC's, then the USD reserves have been depleted b/c everyone is long and no one is "selling BTC's".  the shorts in this situation have been minimized, liquidated, or enduring immense pain.

Zhou has guaranteed liquidity to the shorts in this situation so they can cover their positions even in the event of a red flag event.  this was only recently supposedly implemented.  note to shorts: let us know if this isn't the case.

the opposite is true as in your equal opportunity screw job question:  when everyone is selling BTC's and the shorts have piled up, the BTC reserve gets depleted and the USD reserves swell.  when the BTC reserves are depleted, one cannot sell or short anymore thus generating a red flag event * on the ask side.  the longs in this situation will also be guaranteed liquidity to get out of their positions in this situation unlike before all the complaints.  note to longs:  let us know if this is not the case.

can u imagine when it becomes one continuous roar?

thanks for the clarification.

Proudhon:  notme is correct but do realize that liquidation means you'll accept any price to get out of your position even if it means a loss.  limit orders are more safe and allows you to choose at which price you want your order executed.

first of all congrats on what looks to have been a tremendous short from $18.

i agree with notme.  if u believe we're headed back up towards $18, why not close the 1 BTC short now, then re short @ $18?

in fact, if you had closed this 1 BTC short @ $2, you would have made an additional profits by this point.

Whats the best way to rob a bank?  Own It.

i have a NEW night time tool for monitoring Bitcoin tx's:  http://blockchain.info/new-transactions

i've convinced my wife to wear earplugs.

this is very funny.  i'm now leaving that page tab open just to listen to the tx ding.

you know how us fanatics need that constant stimulation...

we all should be working toward layering an existing, real world currency over the top of Bitcoin. 

THAT is the USD.

True:  crap, don't ask me.

but the OP didn't say "no selling", he said low USD's which means everyone's long; again.

as in Short Squeeze

i think it is a function of the 4 sec delay btwn when u hit the buy button and when it executed.  you were lucky enough to have a spike down during that 4 sec i would imagine.