Currently, I believe it isn't (for real money).  Pokerstars could enable bitcoin payments and allow players to *wink* *wink* claim they're in Canada.  No need to send out cheques or get/send money from/to American credit cards.  I suspect however that PS would be afraid to touch a pseudo anonymous currency to bypass USA laws.

Bitcoin needs Pokerstars to support bitcoin payments.  Americans would love it.  The US government would surely find a way to sabotage Pokerstars however.

My emotion is one of regret.  Regret that I didn't double my money on the way to $7 and just sell up and stay out, waiting for a better price to buy back in.  Fortunately however bitcoin is almost back to the price where I reentered the market.  More money available now (courtesy of people who thought $7 was a screaming buy) so maybe I'll dabble in the market when it touches $3.40.

These forums are a great sentiment indicator: when people are shouting 'zomg, here comes $X (where X is current price plus $2)' it's a time to sell.  It's almost like the market knows how to punish hubris and avarice.  When everyone seems to be throwing in the towel and saying how lame bitcoin is, it's time to buy. 

Bitcoin isn't a ponzi scheme.  It's just that too many people are playing the market and trying to get new participants that it's exactly what bitcoin looks and behaves like.

No.

Maybe.

Whisky Tango Foxtrot.  Way under $4.

Probably two more price movements down to go: caused by those who bought back in at $5 because that was the bottom, only to see the price continue to fall.  They'll cut their losses.  The other movement down may be caused by people who bought into the November rally from $2.  Get profit while the getting is good.  Should have sold at $7, will take some profit at $4.  Better than a loss.

Price may recover somewhat after that.

Just read about TradeHill shutting down (yeah, slow on the news).  So we're relying on essentially one exchange now (I consider handling well over 90% of all USD<->BTC as a monopoly).  A single point of failure.  Not exactly a comforting thought, especially as bitcoin was meant to be anything but reliant on the good wishes and business practices of one company.  Competitors may emerge of course, but it all takes time and a lot of money.

An interesting moment is coming up for me.  I bought into the emerging sustained rally at $4 and rode it all the way to $7, then sold and rebought.  Often at a profit, but sometimes at a loss.  Up overall, but it appears bitcoin will once again be at $4 very soon.  Don't know whether to buy in or wait for some kind of up trend to emerge. 

Waiting...

Manipulator = someone who trades far more than me, for larger amounts, in large transactions, moving the price against my position and not warning me in advance.

+1.  USD interest rates are way above anything anyone could get anywhere in the world (without the risk of losing your money).  

What's to stop someone depositing $10k, never trading and collecting 8%pa?  High reward = high risk.  No ifs, no buts.

The one thing bitcoin is pretty useless for is as a store of value.  The US dollar may have lost 90% of its value in the last 50 years, but bitcoin is capable of losing 90% of its value within 6 months (June to November 2011).  The commodity suffers wild swings upwards and down.  Forum participants have watched as its value swung up to 50% within one day.  It was crazy.  The swings hurt bitcoin and hamper its adoption as anything more than a means to achieve a transaction (get rid of bitcoins as soon as you acquire them).


That's not very nice.

The rally has left the building

Lucky for you, there have been another 2 large sells since then.

So there's no problem.  All is good.

Idiots?  Maybe the smart money is leaving or has already left.

Take revenge.  Deprive these idiots of their bitcoins by buying into the weakness and ROTFL on these forums in a few weeks if the price returns to $6.  If.

There's a lot of money to be made right now by being lucky enough to pick the next trend.  I'm sitting this one out however.  Profits are off the table and I'll return to the game later on.

I became tempted to buy at $5.25 and did... saw the lack of momentum and got the feeling it would head lower.  Liquidated my gambling on Bitcoincia at a profit and sold on MtGox.  Now we're at $4.82 and it's difficult to see a bottom at the moment. 

Chartists, start your engines.

I just love these 'Last chance to buy bitcoins at $X!' threads.  They appear every time bitcoin's price begins to fall, and are often posted by people long on bitcoins watching their investment shrink in value.  Sometimes the thread is true (try buying a bitcoin for $2.20 today), but very often the thread is completely wrong ($7.20 was apparently the last chance to buy them that cheap before they rocket upwards...).

I would like to hear at what point the site's creator thought it would be a good idea to store passwords as plain text.  There is no 'I'll get around to it later...' explanation.  It's a serious design flaw from day one.  It makes the whole effort look very amateurish at best and makes me wonder how many other serious flaws exist on the site, just waiting for be exploited.