Until it gets banned outright it's not useless to the Chinese at all. 99% of them are investing in bitcoin as if they were opening a high-interest savings account. That won't stop until an outright ban, which is not on the table at the moment.

Hi there,
Could I ask a question as a layman without any grasp of technical analysis, stocks, charts, etc.
What do those of you who are specialists in this field and who do this to earn at least a part-time living or a full-time living think about the reliability of your methods when applied to bitcoin as opposed to major stocks or the forex markets?
Are the variables in bitcoin that you don't have anything to compare with, that might throw off traditional analysis?
Thanks.

I've got a feeling you won't have to wait before the tide changes again.
We are getting closer to mainstream implementation. The China news is a) not really news - their stance was already quite obvious, and b) a good opportunity for other countries to get a head start support this emerging technology and its infrastructure, in whatever form it will take.
And I think that from here onwards bitcoin will not fall out of the media spotlight - which is good news!
I don't see it crashing like last time. The gears have changed. There are new variables. That's why this bubble has a different shape so far to the previous bubbles, and why the tail end of it will have a different shape.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-bitcoin-crash-20131207,0,7011276.story#axzz2mo0wbeeG

Just in case you needed to learn the definition of smug bastard!

You're talking out of your ass so much perhaps you should let your bot take over your comments altogether

SPAM

In my opinion people are playing toss the dead cat right now 

Newbie here.
Congratulations to you all holding on. If the feeling that it's all about dumping your coins on a rise takes over the masses then it's just bubble, crash, bubble, crash and it would be difficult to take bitcoins seriously.
Are you going to spend some on something with a bitcoin pricetag though?

Well there's an idea! 
But seriously, I don't understand anyone buying in now at $850. Look at the volumes being traded. It's like a ghost town! If you're getting in that close underneath $1,000 why not just wait until then and also get the chance to buy in cheaper with the possible pre-$1,000 crash, because when it breaks $1,000 and sustains that will be an important milestone. And so what if you buy at $1,050 instead of $850 - if bitcoin's going to the "Moon" anyway!

In my opinion some of the biggest holders should sell off their stock to drop prices and bring more people in. That's how to go mainstream the quickest way possible. The way it's going at the moment, who wants to join a system where a few people are hoarding much of the wealth to squeeze extra dollars out of those (also relatively new) looking to join  ? Looking at the charts, volumes, etc., I don't see how this can be sustained without the prices dropping / correcting / whatever technical term you may want to use. Large-scale credible businesses offering a wide variety of uses and advantages for bitcoin are also a must.