Help needed!

[RG888]

Hello, just recently found out that my mum deposited £1,000 on an app called plus500 and spent it all on buying some shares called bitcoin/USD(or whatever they are called, i honestly haven't got a clue what it's all about lol) the starting rate was 250.50 or something like that and now it is at 370 so it says and her P/L is over £10,000.

Just sounds to good to be true to be honest, especially since we both have no idea about anything to do with the stock market/selling shares etc. Is it a scam or is there some sort of mistake? Or does she really have a £10,000 profit right now if she sells it all? (Think it was 128 shares she bought)

Also another question, it says there is an expiry date for bitcoin/USD on the 31st November, does this mean that the shares will automatically be sold on that day? I keep telling her to just cash out right now, take the £10,000 profit if it isn't a mistake as it is decent money and would help us a lot lol.

Sorry if i haven't explained everything properly, probably used all the wrong words etc but like i said i don't have a clue about anything to do with this, so if anyone could help make it a little clearer for me that would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Ecurb123]

sorry I really have no idea what shes into, I did a quick google search on plus500 and found a site that looked real enough, but I'd be very careful about your or her next steps. Anyway I hope someone else on here can help you more.

[RG888]

I don't think its available to US people, its a phone app lol.

Anyone else?

[pontiacg5]

Phone apps are on the internet too, at least you'd expect them to be. Itunes and android both have webpages right? Either way if you really want help identifying whoever owns your bitcoins currently is the first step, assuming she's even bought BTC. The next is finding out how to get them transferred to you ASAP.

[RG888]

I'm sorry but i don't have a clue what any of that meant lol.

[pontiacg5]

For anyone here to advise you in your particular situation we would need to know what (or more importantly who) your mom has given her money to. Then, you'd need to figure out how to actually have them sent to a wallet you control, otherwise she owns nothing. Either that or figure out how to cash out to a bank or something. Smells like a scam to me, but I may be wrong.

[zambient]

It seems that Plus500 is a legit (as far as these things go) online retail trading company

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plus500

They started allowing trading for bitcoin CFDs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contracts_for_difference

Read up on CFDs... you need to know this

[zambient]

Your mum might have done well... but I think you won't know for sure until Nov 31...

[Foxpup]

Plus500 is a legitimate trading platform, and the prices look about right. The reason the price movement looks batshit insane is because your mother's position is, in fact, batshit insane. What she has spent her money on is, basically, an extremely leveraged long position in the Bitcoin/USD currency pair (which is itself an extremely volatile financial instrument). What this means is that if Bitcoin (a digital currency, in case you don't already know) increases in value relative to the U.S. Dollar, your mother will make a tonne of money. Conversely, if Bitcoin decreases in value relative to the U.S. Dollar, she will lose everything. I cannot fathom why anyone would buy such a risky investment without even knowing what Bitcoin is or what a CFD is.

Anyway, the biggest question at this point is: should your mother close the position now and take the money, or wait until the 31st? Waiting might result in even more astounding gains, or it might result in losing it all. I'd have to ask why she thought it was a good idea in the first place. If she understands that there's a large risk of losing her money and is okay with that, then by all means wait and see what happens. Otherwise, my advice is: get out now.

[RG888]

Thanks very much foxpup, i thought it was a bit risky. I think my mum heard something about it on the news or something, and just decided to go for it and try and make some money, we're risk takers in this family after all lol.

I did manage to convince her to sell them earlier though, sold them when they were at $420 i think, for a profit of £15,000 or so, not bad for a week!

Her gamble paid off anyway, have to give some credit to my mum for that haha.