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Does anybody know where you can download historical BTC data? Ideally I'm looking for a CSV file I can import in Excel with Open, High, Low and Close data.
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What guarantees are there that the supply of bitcoin will be limited? Couldn't the code easily be changed to allow more than 21 million bitcoins?
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Are there any iOS bitcoin clients available or in the works?
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I have not traded on Bitcoinica. If any information I post below is wrong, please correct me.
Another exchange is always good for competition. However, Bitcoinica seems to be set up more like a Forex trading operation whereas most other BTC are setup more as stock exchanges. What are the differences?
Most BTC Exchanges vs Bitcoinica
1) agency trading (majority of BTC trading) vs principal trading
2) commission charged vs no commission
3) no leverage allowed (majority of BTC trading) vs leverage allowed
4) client orders can change the inside market vs client orders can not change the inside market
5) your order can't be traded through vs your order can be traded through without a fill
I think the differences in 1, 2 and 3 are apparent to most traders but 4 and 5 may not be. For example of #4, suppose both Bitcoinica and Mt Gox have a current inside market is 5.40 to 5.50 and you put in an order to buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Mt Gox, the inside market at Mt Gox will change to 5.41 to 5.50. If you place the same order to buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Bitcoinica, the inside market would remain 5.40 to 5.50.
For an example of #5 differences, if you place an order to Buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Mt Gox, BTC can not trade below $5.41 unless your order is completely filled. On Bitcoinica, your order could remain unfilled even as BTC trades at $5.40, $5.39, $5.38 and perhaps lower on Bitcoinica. You will only be due a fill on Bitcoinica when the ask price reaches your buy limit.
Just some differences to keep in mind when you choose where to trade.
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I have not traded on Bitcoinica. If any information I post below is wrong, please correct me.
Another exchange is always good for competition. However, Bitcoinica seems to be set up more like a Forex trading operation whereas most other BTC are setup more as stock exchanges. What are the differences?
Most BTC Exchanges vs Bitcoinica
1) agency trading (majority of BTC trading) vs principal trading
2) commission charged vs no commission
3) no leverage allowed (majority of BTC trading) vs leverage allowed
4) client orders can change the inside market vs client orders can not change the inside market
5) your order can't be traded through vs your order can be traded through without a fill
I think the differences in 1, 2 and 3 are apparent to most traders but 4 and 5 may not be. For example of #4, suppose both Bitcoinica and Mt Gox have a current inside market is 5.40 to 5.50 and you put in an order to buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Mt Gox, the inside market at Mt Gox will change to 5.41 to 5.50. If you place the same order to buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Bitcoinica, the inside market would remain 5.40 to 5.50.
For an example of #5 differences, if you place an order to Buy 10 BTC at $5.41 on Mt Gox, BTC can not trade below $5.41 unless your order is completely filled. On Bitcoinica, your order could remain unfilled even as BTC trades at $5.40, $5.39, $5.38 and perhaps lower on Bitcoinica. You will only be due a fill on Bitcoinica when the ask price reaches your buy limit.
Just some differences to keep in mind when you choose where to trade.
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Sounds like some research in these forums is needed on your part.
Thank you. I'll definitely search. I apologize if these questions have already been asked. I'm a relative newbie. What, if any, improvements would you like to see for Bitcoin or a subsequent cryptocurrency? |
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What are some practical ways or technical ways that Bitcoin or an alternate cryptocurrency could be better? For example, an encrypted wallet.dat file is already being worked on. If there are good solutions already please point them out
1) are there any Bitcoin client applications for mobile OSs such as iOS, Android, Symbian or RIM?
2) is there a quick way for a brick and mortar stores to quickly accept BTC payments? Say a customer walks in with a Smartphone that has a Bitcoin client or other app that he could use to send or "Bump" BTC to the cashier of the store to pay for something?
3) is there a quicker way to get a confirmed BTC payment (6 confirms usually takes about an hour or so)?
What else would you like to see Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) do?
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Mt Gox just got rid of the bad data. Now it says
High 7.40
Low 4.60
Which looks a lot more likely to be correct.
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On Mt Gox if you look at "Trade Data" "Last 24 Hours" you can see the main trades. The outliers clearly stick out. There is either some bad data in there or Mt Gox is not using price to determine the priority of orders. Case in point, I'm see Mt. Gox showing a low for the past day of $3.85. I've had an order in to buy 10 BTC at $4.16 since Sep 9th at 18:54. Either the $3.85 is a bad print or they are trading around my order.
Regarding volume, if you are trading 1,000 or more BTC, Mt Gox is the place to trade. If you are trading smaller amounts, ExchB, CampBX might be OK. Those 2 exchanges surprise me sometimes, occasionally I'll see 100 BTC bids and offers that are at the same inside level as Mt Gox, sometimes better. But be quick, the arbitrage bots don't let them sit there for long and quickly take them out. If TradeHill would let me see their order book, I might trade more there. But since I don't know if a big on TradeHill is for 100 BTC or 1 BTC, I usually trade elsewhere.
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2 Good BTC/USD alternatives to Mt Gox are: www.exchangebitcoins.comand www.campbx.comI've used both and like them both. Why not TradeHill? TradeHill doesn't let you see the order book the way ExchB, CampBX and Mt Gox do. TradeHill is more like a black box. I prefer to be able to see the order book so I'll know a little bit of what I'm getting in to. |
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It seems Mt Gox has changed the limit from 0.1 BTC to 0.01 BTC when entering orders on the website. I was just able to enter a 0.01 BTC order using the website.
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So Mt Gox sells BTC to John and receives USD. It takes those USD to a forex trading firm and converts them to SEK. Mt Gox then pays SEK to Bjorn and receives BTC from him. The BTC Mt Gox receives from Bjorn is used to offset the BTC Mt Gox sold to John. And if Mt Gox has done its calculations correctly, it will receive more BTC from Bjorn than it sells to John.
That sounds like trading on a principal basis to me. I don't think there's anything wrong with it and it should help liquidity in all of the BTC vs fiat currency markets on Mt Gox. However, Mt Gox is the only place I know of that trades on both a principal basis and an agency basis. Does anyone know of other exchanges that trade on both a principal basis and an agency basis?
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If you place an order through the Mt Gox web site the order has to be for a minimum of 0.1 BTC. Yet when I look at the order book, I see many orders for less than 0.1 BTC. I heard that using the API you can place orders for 0.01 BTC. Can anyone confirm that? Also, is anyone aware of other differences between using the web site and the API?
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Wouldn't necessarily have to be a "middle man" per se, mt.gox would just have to have a common currency "backbone", ie. some common denominator for all trading.... in reality that's how the "real world" works i.e. you typically don't trade Rubbles for Yen, you typically trade Rubbles for Dollars for Yen and vice versa, if all are weighted against a common currency that kills those pesky triangles of doom currency trading i.e. Pound > Euro > Dollar > Pound .... as you can see there would be a problem if that ever occurred but it's eliminated by i.e. Pound > Dollar < Euro
I would suspect Mt.Gox is just pulling off the same mechanic under the hood enabling any fiat to BTC trading possible.
[/quote]
How would this work in the USD SEK example above?
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Mt Gox and most other BTC exchanges have been trading on an agency basis where they match buyers and sellers and receive commission for matching the 2 together. Now I see that "Mt Gox opens 15 new currency markets" https://mtgox.com/press_release_20110902.htmlBut instead of having the orders within 1 currency only trade with orders of the same currency, I see they post "Mt.Gox’s custom implementation of a multi-currency platform is unique in that currency markets are not separated from one another, and traders are not limited to their own currency market. Instead traders access the entire market with the trade priority being put on their native currency." If John wants to buy BTC with USD and Bjorn wants to sell BTC for SEK, the only way these 2 orders can trade with each other is if there is a middleman in between, either Mt Gox or some other market maker. This middle man is the counter party to both John and Bjorn. Does anyone know who is serving as the middle man, Mt Gox or someone else? |
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If you buy on the way down you would have bought
100 BTC at $9
100 BTC at $8 and
100 BTC at $7
At that point the price of BTC is $7, you are long 300 BTC with an average cost basis of $8 and an unrealized loss of $1 per BTC or $300 total.
If you buy on the way up, you'd buy
100 BTC at $5
100 BTC at $6 and
100 BTC at $7
At that point the price of BTC is $7, you are long 300 BTC with an average cost basis of $6 and an unrealized gain of $1 per BTC or $300 total.
If you don't know where the price is going, I include myself in this category, then it's better to be a trend follower and wait for an uptrend to buy. That way you'll have the smallest position when the price is moving against you and the largest position when it has recently moved in your favor. This is basic trend following, anti-martingale strategy.
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If PayPal is no longer supported, which I think is a good decision, then why do I still see bids on BitMarket.eu with PayPal as the payment method?
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Buying several times on the way up give you an unrealized gain. Buying several times on the way down gives you an unrealized loss. I prefer unrealized gains to unrealized losses. That's why I buy on the way up and not on the way down.
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Bitcoin is certainly not Fiat Money. However, Bitcoin can serve as a medium of exchange; a unit of account; and a store of value. But Bitcoin does not fit neatly into any of the categories for types of money. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Types_of_moneyBitcoin has some characteristics of commodities, some of money and some new characteristics. Bitcoin is really a new category because it does not fit into any of the previous categories. |
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