Yesterday I signed in for the first time in a long while looking for some ring action ... where is everybody? Seems like players are playing less now that summer has come, but still ...

Thanks. I have to play less poker and spend more time exploring OKcoin, Bitmex, and 1broker, lol. If Okcoin is like 796 with more liquidity & tighter spreads, I might have to move.

'Bitsharp' is short,sweet, and memorable. I also looked over your site - not too bad.

For futures I'm only using 796 Exchange at the moment. One thing I really like is there is that the futures contract usually trades at a large premium/discount to spot. So I trade directionally, but also use prem/disc as a decision input. Also, they are trying to launch a CFD tied to Mainland PRC stocks. I think they've curtailed trading (?) due to crazy volatility of late, but I've traded that contract a bit and would love for it to gain some traction.

What are your thoughts on Okcoin vs. Bitmex? I've briefly looked at both, but haven't taken the plunge yet. Bitmex didnt' excite me because their homepage was too 'busy' and their futures contract pretty much traded at spot. The Bitmex principals are from 'sell side' wall street and I got turned off by the 'pitch' of all the noise on their site. That said, the founder writes a decent newsletter, and I appreciated his last one calling for a run to $300 before a pullback etc. etc. ... will confess I switched more bullish after I read it.

Okcoin ... I just read about several recent departures among their senior staff, questions about their audits (?), and decided not to bother. I'm already trading with one Chinese exchange, probably don't need to double my headaches.

Awesome. Actually I withdrew all my balance several days ago to trade futures given the recent volatility. Time to log back in and have a look.

I've played on this site quite a bit, and have cashed out consistently. Any serious gambler who has spent any time playing here knows Bitcasino.io is completely legit ...

In order for you to BUY something, there must be someone willing to SELL it to you.

I can make offers all day to buy houses in my neighborhood for $10. Nobody will accept my offer, so I will never get 'filled.' Just because I made an offer, or multiple offers, does not mean I am entitled to a fill. I must find a willing seller at my price.

If you are trying to buy a contract and you see that the best offer is for .0075 btc, and you bid .0050, your bid will not get 'filled', at least initially. At that moment nobody is willing to sell at that low price. Once you've sent an order, ALWAYS follow up on whether your order was filled. If it wasn't filled, your order is still likely broadcast on the exchange and you might want to cancel it.

Ah, I hadn't noticed that the chips were only ubtc instead of the standard mbtc. Everyone is used to mBtc, the extra digits of uBtc is a turnoff I think.

I would gladly consolidate on one site, but each site has a different offering and strengths/weaknesses. Currently about 3-4 sites.

While I don't know for sure, it sounds like a refund/return scam targeting Amazon, and Amazon likely set themselves up for it.

When I was living 'overseas' my Amazon shipments would get tied up in customs. The country I was living in had laws on pornography, ideological tracts, pharmaceuticals, and would routinely open and search the contents of shipments to foreigners. Packages could get caught up in that process for several weeks. I would contact Amazon, tell them my shipment didn't arrive. They would send a 2nd shipment, and instruct me to keep the first shipment if it ever arrived, because it was too costly to return. About 3-4x I received 2x what I ordered. Now, I didn't do this to scam Amazon, but clearly someone could.

I would oftentimes receive the 2nd shipment before the first, because customs process was random and unpredictable.

Some users seem to be unaware that many many blockchain transactions are taking MUCH longer than normal due to a recent software upgrade. SStand - check out Reddit/bitcoin for details .. From what I read these delays should be resolved in 2-3 days or so. That is the hope/expectation anyways.

I played this site a bit today - here's a quick review:

They give 4 chips upon sign-up. I'm hoping they are vigilant against scams, because they will be targeted.

Leo is sitting 'table starter' duties from time to time, and he donk's something fierce. :-)

That said, I don't see how they differentiate from a half dozen other new sites that are treading water with just a few players showing up from time to time.

**What is super cool about this place, and I've not seen before, is that they have an automated withdrawal setup. So for example you can set it to 4 days, such that if you do not login for four days then your account balance will be sent to your designated address. No more nonsense worrying about whether the site will 'steal your chips' .. lol (I've never actually seen a site 'steal' chips.) This site is actually pushing chips on you.

Anyway, thanks Leo ... I'll be back.

You are going to ask for a refund, right? Lol ...

Hi Andy,

Hope you can build some flexibility into your strangle/straddle margining regime.

For example, I may sell puts today, and then sell calls for the same expiration a few days later. I would like to get straddle or portfolio margining on the position, as only one half of the position can expire in-the-money. Currently you are charging us 2x the required margin. I would be trading a lot more if you had this, and that probably holds true for many of your other customers as well.

How is that even possible?!? Nevermind ... I  don't even want to know. I scold myself sometimes for playing too much poker. YOU need help my friend. Lol ...

This is a good question. I've played at the busier sites - SWC, Betcoin - and also several of the smaller sites. A couple years back I had a positive experience at Satoshi Poker ... back when it was basically just SWC and tiny SP. What I liked about playing SP, and now some of the smaller sites, is that the mix of players is different. For example at the bigger sites at any given full-ring table I'm competing against several players that I have no history on. I don't use hand analysis software, and I don't multi-table like some autistic automaton - I like to play real poker against a real person. (Yeah, online game is not for me, that for another time.) So, often at the bigger sites I just feel at a disadvantage. Its not my best game. At the smaller sites I'm able to level the playing field a bit because the players showing up at these sites are less dedicated to the online grind. Moreover given that I don't use software to keep track of hand histories it is easier for me to internalize a history on the much smaller field of opponents.

So for example at Luckyflops right now I know that Jorjitofish and Fishkiller can always be found at the cash tables, and I've now played them enough that I can sit down and 'play the man' as opposed to playing some multi-tabling or multi-accounting bot. Actually at LF there are roughly about two dozen characters that show up somewhat regularly. I am a home-game cash player and when I play online I appreciate seeing familiar 'faces' at the table.

A second reason is that the newer sites tend to run more aggressive promotions (?), and often the promotions are run inconsistently, so that allows me to 'corner the market' from time to time. Anyway, there are pros and cons to playing both large, well-trafficked sites, and the smaller start-ups. I think both have their advantages and disadvantages.

In your shoes, assuming you just want to avoid having to figure out, and pay a tax liability on 'earnings' or capital gains, this is what I would consider:

A. If the potential liability isn't material, just withdraw the funds to your bank. Have you looked at what your liability might run?
B. Seek out people near you who are able and willing to meet in person and pay cash for some or all of your coins. Localbitcoins is a good place to start looking.
C. Xapo debit card. Yes, the fees are high, but look at it this way: Xapo is an innovator and first-mover in btc, and your patronage is measure of support for the btc ecosystem. In a way those fees serve to 'pay back' the btc ecosystem for the opportunities it has provided.

Its a brand new site and they and their partners are still ironing out the wrinkles. I don't need more than that.

Every hurdle they overcome makes them more robust. Nice ...

I was unable to add the Avatar because after clicking the link and opening a second window I got the message "You are not permitted to modify profile settings."

Sounds like a simple case of inexperience on the market maker's part. Or, that may have been a minor thing, and they left for other reasons. Anyway, I'm trading futures for the time being ... hope Coinut can pull this together.

It's funny. Mr. Wang was over on the Gambling sub-forum here touting how someone made over 20 btc. Does it really count if you gave it back? Lol ...