That's funny, I was thinking the same thing and came to this forum to see if anyone was discussing it. (Made this account 1.5 years ago, first mined in 2009 for a bit on a CPU but have preferred to lurk thus far.) I wonder how many other people are thinking this. The common wisdom is that BTC will drop but there is the contrarian in me saying otherwise...
Many things are already factored in... is shorting allowed on mtgox? I have never actually used it. Not that I would do that but I am wondering how it could effect the market. There could be a "short squeeze" as in the stock market but I don't know how sophisticated the trading platform is.
Man, if you really did start mining in '09 you had a chance to make a killing.. Back then, Mining with a CPU was not too hard and very cheap, granted, btc wasn't worth too much, mostly just good for trading, etc.
With every new bitcoin development, we see more stability, yes, we will have drama and thefts, but those should start slowing down as people get more security minded and wiser. The reason that you dont see 500k coins or more traded a day is becuase most of the coins are being held by miners and investors. I hope to see the bitcoin used like a traditional currency, but i think it will be used as a investment tool.
But, when bitinstant gets their debit cards out in the next couple months, you will then be able to use a mastercard and the bitcoins in your account are immediately taken out, converted to dollars or euro and and then spend. No more having to buy coin then sale it, then put it on a card..
After each passing month, the trading gets a little bigger, wait til the halving in December, only half of the bitcoins will be made.. That alone should make the bitcoin rise...
It will always have its up and downs.. I dont think that it will ever go away.