I wonder if having Kyrie back with the team on and off is going to cause problems with their play. It seems like they struggle a bit without him, but at least they got the W.

Today’s big story though is obviously Klay Thompson’s return to the Warriors. It’s been a long time since the splash brothers have played together. I’m just hoping for a safe return and for Klay to nail that first big 3.

Looks like the Denver Nuggets are going to take a risk and give DeMarcus Cousins a 10 day contract to try him out as a backup for Jokic. I still think the Chicago Bulls would have made a better landing spot for him both for the fit and the chance at a ring, but Denver has a good young team that’s getting better. They may have a good shot to win next year when everyone is healthy again. Maybe Cousins can stick around til then.

Even if he did own a casino, who cares?  Is that some horrible thing if someone here built a use case for crypto?  That's literally the point of these boards (or used to be).  I must say I was unaware that Hhampuz was into building use cases like this, and I think it's pretty cool.  He no doubt found more success in what he's doing now and I'm not sure why you'd attack him like this out of the blue.  You should lock this thread unless you have some actual useful information that someone might care about.  As for Hhampuz, I'm sure you'll be seeing more nuts like this in the future as you continue to be more active with members here over a long period of time.  Probably best to ignore them unless you want to end up with your own Vod type situation.

There seems to be good buying demand below $41K, but the market keeps wanting to drift lower.  I'm wondering what the market sentiment is on these boards as we appear to be fighting the upwards trend line and heading into a bear market.  What do you think?

Will Bitcoin dip below $40K? (for at least 24 hours)

Yes or No?

Go ahead and vote for Miss Cleo if you don't have a strong opinion either way but still want to see the results.  Consider it the unsure option.

It will be interesting to see how the Nets play with vs without Kyrie now. So far they are 1-0 with him and 0-1 without him in this experiment as they got blown out by the Bucks tonight. I would agree Kyrie probably won’t get a vaccine shot even if they make the Finals so that could be a thing… I imagine the team going without him every other night will effect their ability to play together. Such an interesting turn of events

Fear months can turn into fear years pretty quickly.  If history is any guide we could be in for 40 months of fear as the jump from $4K to $70K unwinds itself.  Sure, there's always outside factors, but if you're taking a long time view of the market I think having some caution here and making sure you aren't invested with money you can't afford to lose is probably a good idea.  If you've been eating ramen and stacking sats for the last 3 years, maybe it's time to sell a little and buy yourself a steak dinner.  Had I told you a year ago that Bitcoin would be over $40K today you probably would have smiled, so my advice is to smile.

After a few weeks of hiatus for the holidays the NBA on TNT crew is back at it tonight. This is the first nationally broadcast public appearance by Shaq since the release of his Shaq Gives Back NFT charity project. I expect he’ll mention it at some point so I’ll be watching for that. Great to have nationally broadcast NBA games back after the holiday break.

I’d have to disagree with the above. I’m not seeing capitulation in the market right now at all. I’m seeing lower lows on low volume indicating that we are still awaiting that max pain moment. It seems unlikely that we will turn upwards without a massive volume spike corresponding with a ton of selling. I’ll feel better once that volume spike and drop are in the rear view and with a little luck it’ll happen without digging us too deep into the 30’s.

I'm not sure I'd say we're in a bear market yet.  This still seems like correction territory to me.  Granted, it's closer to bear market territory than I'd like it to be.  We're still in the comfort zone at the moment though.  I think things will start getting uncomfortable around $39K and below that will feel like a bear market.  At the moment though we could be in a trading range between $42.0K & $69K.  Until that breaks, this could be viewed as a buying opportunity.  Especially seeing the sentiment in the market expecting it to drop further.  The bulls have been liquidated enough, there should be some bears on the menu before long.

I love the difference in mood between when Bitcoin rallied to $40K the first time and how it's sitting above it now with people talking about a collapse.  I think Bitcoin will obviously continue to mature.  Just look at the news.  Billions of dollars are being poured into Bitcoin mining alone.  Not to mention the money being invested in development and for fund management purposes.  We'll have to wait and see if there's still a bubble to be had before this cycle calls an end, but it definitely seems like we're on the cusp of either a bubble reforming, or a slow crash back down below $30K.  Either way, I would advise folks destined to hold through the crash to find themselves some investment income so they can come out stronger on the other side.

I can't believe the Bucks are going to let DeMarcus Cousins walk away a free agent.  He was playing great for them.  Much better than I expected.  I guess he was just there to fill a roster spot during the covid restrictions.  I'm curious who is going to pick him up now.  Twitter is screaming at the Lakers to waive DeAndre Jordan and sign Cousins, but I don't see why they can't keep both...  Likely Cousins will find a new home somewhere else.  I think Chicago might be a decent home for him if he's still chasing a ring.  Another stint with Golden State might not be a bad idea either.  I'm sure someone will grab him quickly.

Saylor isn't the person I'd choose to introduce someone to Bitcoin with.  He has some good talks about finance, but I don't think he knows as much about Bitcoin as most think.  He also isn't the most captivating speaker when it comes to crypto. 

If I were going to recommend a more fun and knowledgeable way for you to introduce someone to Bitcoin, I would go with Pomp's Best Business Show podcast.  It's a lot of fun to watch and they have some really great analysts and guests on there quite frequently.  I think it's entertaining and educational, as well as being a bit more youthful and likely to catch your friend's attention.

I think a lot of people were expecting a spot ETF to be approved in the US before the end of the year.  Being stuck with futures ETFs with high fees had the opposite effect on the market.  Most people are still on the sidelines waiting for COIN or a similar ETF to be approved.  It's looking now like that may not even happen until Q2, which seems to be purposefully aligning with the mtgox 200,000 BTC dump on the market.  It's going to be a year of high volatility for Bitcoin I think, so make sure you've got your shitting pants on.

It looks like we're at a somewhat crucial moment for the price as far as the trend is concerned.  I think a break below $42K would look pretty bad on a chart and send some people heading for the hills.  Maybe that's what this market needs for the next leg up, but it appears the bears are at the cusp of claiming a pretty large victory.  The volume spike as we touched $42,500 makes it seem like we're due for a bounce today, but with the financial markets spooked by inflation and covid along with the Fed talking about raising rates earlier than expected and it seems like we may be in for a rough patch.

I don't know if I'd say he could be the best player on the team.  Durant is his teammate and he's literally the best player in the world, so Kyrie will always be at best the second fiddle.  I would say he is a distant third to James Harden also, but this year with the rule changes Harden has been ineffective driving in the paint and has basically been forced to dish or shoot 3 pointers.  Kyrie coming back will hopefully help that a bit.  Durant had 39 points on 15-24 shooting...  Pretty crazy.  They also scored 35 points in the 4th quarter to come from behind.  A nice victory to welcome Kyrie back.

I'm not sure which way to lean on this news.  Either he has been in communication with other countries about this (logical they would ask him for his experience) or he is trying to wish it into existence while trying to pump his bags.  I wouldn't put either past him and both seem likely.  I don't think it would be far fetched for anyone to make this claim, but considering he would be the guy countries would ask, you have to put a little respect on his name and assume that he's in the know and sharing some knowledge with us.  I just hope no disasters happen with the lightning network that cause this sort of adoption to be a massive failure that hurts Bitcoin.

The IRS has given tax guidelines for theft this year and any stolen goods must be accounted for and taxes paid on them as gain.  I hear the NFT crowd is quite happy that the IRS will be going after taxes for stolen goods as that should deter others from stealing their artwork without paying for fear of the additional taxes.

In short, if you right click and saved any NFTs this year, you have to pay the taxes on the stolen merchandise.  Be careful next time you want to right click and save an NFT, it could come with a costly tax bill from Uncle Sam.

/sarcasm (that means I'm not being serious)

It seems to me like the SEC is doing their best to try and smooth out the peaks and valleys of the Bitcoin market.  The move to introduce futures before a spot ETF appeared to me to be a move to try and put a cap on the 4-year bubble cycle.  Now they appear to be trying to line up the spot ETF approvals with the mtgox funds hitting the market.  I think they're trying to get that 200,000 BTC that will hit the market absorbed by ETF investors.  While I'd always prefer a free market without manipulation, I can understand why those in control want to minimize any damage caused by potential volatility.  I just hope the ETF hits first so we get a little bubble to play in. 

I was tempted to toss a bet on the Nets for tonight with Kyrie's return, but the risk/reward didn't seem to be there.  Still, this should be a great game and an easy win for the Nets with their returning PG.  Might be a good one to add to a parlay for the day.  I'm expecting the Nets to come out firing to send a message.  They don't want to lose their first game with Kyrie back.  I expect them to be rusty, but the sheer amount of talent should be enough.  Now if we can get the Lakers to start playing like they should the dream Finals matchup could still be a possibility.

Today the French President said his unvaccinated citizens are “non-citizens” and that he wants to piss them off. Governments have resorted to flat out trying to intimidate people to take this vaccine now. What a horrible shit show the EU has become. Thank god I don’t have to live there. I honestly feel sorry for anyone who does. I thought the US was becoming oppressive…