Now is a much better time to buy than last week was!
The only people feeling panicked are people who intended to sell when it was higher, but missed their chance.
So buy now! Buy as much as you can! Remortgage the house!

Sunday, 20th September 2017, 6pm UTC

It seems like a lot of people might take some profit at 5,000. As we are currently around 4,500, that could be very soon if the price keeps on rising.
But I doubt there will be a lot of people taking money out of the system at that point. I mean people actually withdrawing funds from exchanges, in dollars.
If they simply keep the money in the account, ready for trading, any correction after 5,000 is likely to be only temporary.
But once the price gets to a level that is really making some people rich, then there could be some real profit taking, and then the potential for a more serious correction.

With a continual stream of forks, there will be an infinite supply of 'bitcoins' as well

Given that today's range on BitStamp is 3,800 to 4,400, clearly 3,500 is very possible!
It's volatile.

Goldman Sachs seem to be saying peak at 5k then halve. But then what do they know?

My guess is liquidity is much better shortly before the peak, so that it is easier to get money out of exchanges then.

I was wondering, if a 'whale' decided to sell 1,000 coins now and get the money out, how easy would that actually be in practice?
I understand Bitfinex have a 50k withdrawal limit.
In addition, is there real liquidity (ie, actual new dollar money entering the exchange) to allow for this size of exit?

Perhaps in reality the only way a whale could exit at the top of a price spike would be to slowly exit as the price rose, mopping up the new money entering the system.

Coinmarketcap.com

This is a question for speculators, not hodlers.
Hodlers never sell!!!

Speculators - what is your selling price? When will you take profits in this price spike, if you haven't already?

I think the price is rising much faster than many think, and will easily be over 5k by Friday.
My guess is 8k is the peak, before a significant correction (perhaps taking it down as far as 2k, based on past volatility).
So by that reasoning, and given the severe volatility likely at the peak, I reckon sell at 6k in this price spike.

What do others think?

5000 this year?! We will reach 5000 this week!!. This is a super price spike. 8k at least before any let up,  based on the frequently reoccurring factor of 20 when price spikes occur. Still no one is selling even at these high prices so it has much further to run,  and the rate of increase is much greater than most expect

I can't believe you are all talking about only 4k. It will likely break through that level this weekend!

This is a super price spike. Past history suggests prices can increase 20 fold in this situation, including the late 2013 price spike (from 60 to 1200) and even the 1700s tulip mania (also a 20 fold increase).

I believe the reason for this recurrence of 20 fold increases is that it indicates the level at which those investors who entered at the beginning of the spike decide to sell. Meanwhile the late adopters simply don't have enough money to soak up what the early investors try to sell.

As this price spike started at around 400, I think 8k is entirely likely, and very soon, within only a few weeks from now. But it's going to be important to sell just before the peak as it will become very difficult to sell once the price starts falling.
The Chinese traders controlling this market are likely to be very quick and savvy in taking profits.

I think it is very likely to hit 4k. Given the extreme volatility, it could do so by the weekend.
But don't you find this all a bit odd? Actual use of Bitcoin as a currency is declining due to long delays and very high fees.
Only criminals use it for transactions, for malware payments.

This feels to me like a very big speculative bubble. But where will it end? It could well go to 10k, may be higher, as no one seems to take profits in this market.

That also confuses me. Have a lot of Bitcoins been lost? There must be lots of people who could be rich forever if they simply converted their Bitcoins into usable currencies, but they do no do so. Why not?

Confused
 

The price is not moving? It dropped 6% today!
If stock markets dropped 6% in a day it would make the headlines.

Are you sure this is right?
Are you comparing those with 1000+coins at time A (when price was 500) with those with 1000+ coins at time B (when price was 300)?
But these may not be the same group of individuals.
Someone who has 1050 coins at time A, then 950 coins at time B, would not be included in the latter. The reverse is also true.
So there could be a lot more selling by big players than you think.

I agree. BTC has no fundamental value limit, so could 'stabilise' temporarily anywhere. Or not. It could just remain volatile.

More interesting is upward spike happening right now!!! It could easily rise to 1,000 USD this week! This is the Bitcoin of old, in the glory days of 2013. Massive upward spikes, making or breaking the brave BTC trader. Not the sad, slow decline of 2014-15 (up until now).

So with each step downwards in the price of BTC, you buy a bunch more, and then lose a bunch more money with the next step downwards?

If it goes below 200 on all the exchanges, I think we are looking at the next big step down to 100-150. We haven't had a big step down since Jan-Feb, when it went from 330 down to 200. Since then it has been mainly in the 200-300 range.
The lesson from last year is that the big steps down occur when the price goes below the previous low, which in the current case is 200. When the price goes below the previous low, many people panic sell, thinking the end is nigh, and hence the next big step down occurs. The price never really recovers afterwards.
See, for example, the recent high of 320ish. It was still below the previous step level, which was north of 330 (in Dec 2014).

So my prediction is that in the next few days it will go below 200, and then, very rapidly (ie before the end of this month), the next big step down will occur, to USD 100-150 range. There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It's the beginning of the end. The glitterati of bitcoin as splitting up into different factions. There are no broad sunlit uplands, only a valley of darkness

Or, more likely, another period of strangely stable (given BTC has no fundamental value in dollar terms) $200-300 prices.

The peak price so far in 2015 remains USD 321 at 1am on 1 January 2015.
The July peak just didn't quite break through.
Any new predictions for the AYH of 2015? Or will it be 321?

The loan voice of reason. Bitcoin is suppose to be a currency, not a gambling instrument.

This basically remains the highest price so far. The price on Bitstamp was 320 at 1am on 1st January 2015, and has not reached that level since.
Not a great year so far.