Er... I'm not good at math, how many percent has it gone up in two days again?

Way to go M senior

Very nice piece.

I've just sent a link to it to the 'you may as well burn your money' Bitcoin detractor from the Guardian piece who has been decent enough to reply to a harshly critical email I wrote him the other day.

Whoa, that was lucky - I just received my last 10 x 1btc pieces over the weekend.  Maybe it's time to stop playing so fast and loose with them.

I've just had a quick look on ebay.co.uk at what they're going for - http://www.ebay.co.uk/csc/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=casascius&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc - maybe I should have stocked up!!

And in the meantime the bid/ask sum ratio is creeping back up again as the ask sum drops off.

3rd highest volume day and all time highest green volume @ $8,450,532.23 ...
...and the day's not over yet (but I'm going to bed!)

If those big bubbles didn't have both a Bitcoin and Fiat figure in them then they are not exchange trades but Bitcoin transactions that have come from the BlockChain.info api.  Most of those tiny bubbles with just btc prices too are the SatoshiDice betts being picked up.

That is not to say they weren't currency exchanges - the LocalBitcoin and other off-exchange exchanges are going to show up but it could just as well have been someone transferring bitcoin from one wallet to another of his own, an international transfer or whatever.

'Wow' was my first reaction too.  Yet if you think about it this seems to be what we need to be expecting really looking at what's come out in recent days.  I think it's even worse in the US because all these shows seem to have cheerful dumb one (I guess supposedly representing their viewership), a supposedly more informed one whose job it is to give a neutral analysis, you've got one 'expert' for and one against.  Of those only one will really understand for the simple reason the dumb one is dumb and won't get it, the 'informed' one will not stick his neck out but will want to sound knowledgeable whose focus is to ask questions that make him sound good but won't listen to the answers.  The chances of finding an 'expert' against who understands basically anything about Bitcoin is slim because if you understand it you most probably 'get' it and therefore won't be against it and the poor expert 'for' might understand it well enough to make business decisions based on his confidence in his own understanding but might not be familiar enough with the dumbest questions to be able to sneak in the 'best' answers in the few second gaps between when they all are talking over one another.

Way to go America

Bear in mind the 'no information beforehand' includes not knowing whether when you have sold 'with every increase' that you will get an opportunity to buy back in lower.  Guessing those 'support levels' and dips is a different version of the same game as guessing the peaks!

If Bitcoin does have a big future then there's a reasonable chance that buying and holding will be more profitable.  At least it is a simpler game to play

Now I've got you.  Many here are very sure of the way things are going to go - and many of these contradict one another.  Therefore it is sometimes not clear which future the person writing is talking about.  Your use of 'eventual peak' suggested to me you were thinking it would crash and fizzle to its eventual demise after that.  Now it is obvious it is not the case so I'd therefore suggest your use of the word 'eventual' wasn't helpful?

Maybe we're talking cross purposes here.  If after the 'eventual peak' when the price is right you intend to buy more do you think the price will never again reach the 'eventual peak' or do you have another name for the peak after the 'eventual peak'.  Sorry I'm confused!

Did Luke claim the item was in his personal possession in Australia?  Show it me if he did.

I do think it was a bit daft and short sighted of BFL (they may have been tired and didn't think the repercussions through properly) to use the word 'shipped' - especially given they know there's a dedicated bunch of folks who are looking for every tiniest excuse to dance and shout at every and any thing that looks like (or is) a failure on their delivery schedule.

However, I will admit to finding the predictable chorus of 'scammers', 'liars', 'thieves' etc. quite tiresome by now.  Ah well, should be over soon - or maybe not so soon

No it's mining for him at BFL.

Thanks for this thread.

Short answer: No because I'm all in and need time to recover my pound position from earnings before buying any more.

However I will admit to cheating a little when buying on behalf of friends and family by sneaking a little of my own money in too against my self-imposed rules!

I'm enjoying reading if nothing else because of the polarity.  There is incredulity that Bitcoin could be realistically valued at this price on the one hand and complete confidence that it will march increasingly rapidly forward on the other.

As I was just trying to explain to my niece (who is astounded that the face value of her 10btc Cascasius silver coin just hit $1,000) the price does increase the publicity which increases the price.  That she got.  And if that is the primary reason people are buying - i.e. because everybody else is making money and they want a piece of teh action - then we have a situation akin to Tulip Mania and we'll have loads of people losing their fragile confidence as soon as the price drops a bit and panic selling.

However if because of the increase in publicity and the network effect a significant enough number of those jumping on board are doing so because they see its potential and want whether now or in the future to use it as store of value, as a means of sending money internationally, as a means of buying stuff on-line without the mess of credit cards, as a means of getting their money out of their old banks or currency about which they are losing confident and they accept this may be a short-term peak but are buying nevertheless and are prepared to hold and wait then 'the big dip' if ever it comes won't be that big and won't last that long.

Interestingly also then it matters a great deal to those playing the greater fool game if it is about to plummet whereas to those of us who are thinking long-term fundamental value it matters less  How cool is that?

The size of the drop of 'the big dip' and its duration before 'recovering' (if it happens) will simply be down to the balance of the volume of Bitcoin controlled by the 'greater fool brigade' v. the rest of us.  My guess is the longer-term thinkers will win.

Somebody above was talking about his 'primed' fiat on MtGox ready to buy into the dip.  I am grateful to those who do this because they'll have a role to play in catching the dagger and preventing it go as low as it otherwise would.  On the other hand on a personal note I for the first month or so kept a range of orders from a small amount at a dollar below market (when that was a bigger percentage than today!) down to a substantial order at below $1.  I called it my 'crash plan' which was both 'for the benefit of Bitcoin in slowing down the potential crash' but also in the hope I could get more Bitcoin cheaper.  However I soon gave up on that when I concluded the odds of a significant crash are in my opinion too low to be holding that money in fiat so instead I just bought BTC at market price with it!

Just my take in case it is of help to others considering how to play it...

Unless something goes drastically wrong by the time we get to the 'eventual peak' what will be the point of buying fiat?

I agree with the idea most don't know enough and/or don't do the calculations.  There's also the matter of trust and the history of exchange hacking so if people have a smattering of an idea of the history they may just prefer to go with the biggest and most reputable despite the time.

One potential advantage of this is whilst they're waiting for their first opportunity to trade they're doing some reading up and getting to grips with the concepts and potential of Bitcoin.  With any luck those who were going to make a rash jump in to make a quick buck will have learned of the 2011 bubble and will at least know there is no guaranteed profit.  Others may have learned enough to realise it has potential that is not lost were the price to plummet for some months.  The combination of both should reduce the odds of that very plummet because they will in both instances be more prepared to just hold and not lose nerve.  That's my hope at least!  The enforced wait could be the equivalent of the legally required cooling off period of a fiat investment contract!

BidAsk sum ratio back down below 250.