Bitcoin Market History

[ABCsYO]

Hello everyone,

This is indeed my first post and right in time as my interest in Bitcoin grows everyday the closer I get to a salary position after graduation which will provide me with the necessary capital to begin investing.

I just had a scenario I've been torturing myself the past 8 months since I began digging deeply into this new currency that I was hoping to get some insight on from older users or those more familiar with the early days of bitcoin.

As far as I know, the value of Bitcoin back in early 2010 was "trading" at around $0.005 USD/BTC. What I don't know is how accessible or how easy was it to buy Bitcoins in the 10,000 quantity range? From my understanding, not many were selling and these Bitcoins were owned by those involved in the early mining process(where difficulty was low).

Furthermore, how likely was it that someone could sell Bitcoins in this same quantity (10,000 BTC) in late 2013/early 2014 when the exchange rate soared at $1,000 USD/BTC? While I read that a sale of 194,993 BTC was made for a total of $147 Million USD, I can't imagine that there were many players in the emerging market that could pay out such large sums of money for similar size trades.

Seeing that at the time of 2010, I was 16 and a young CS enthusiast I could have seen the benefit of an anonymous, decentralized currency free from the tyrannical currency manipulation of government. I keep torturing myself with this idea that I could have made out big with an early investment in Bitcoin.

Thanks and I appreciate some insight on the marketability of Bitcoin in this period of 2010-2013.

[cryptocult live]

I wasn't around at that time but you can always buy or sell large amounts. Wether you move the market with your trade is an entirely different story. Also: you can get rich from trading without the need of it going to the moon btw. Just learn to trade and get rich off your own skills which, once aquired, can be used in other markets too.

[Kprawn]

There were a lot of hype going around, when the Bitcoin price soared to $1000 and above. People saw it rise and rise daily and they wanted to get in on the action... even buying in at $1000 per Bitcoin.

Some people thought it was the start of a price going to $10 000 per Bitcoin... so if you bought at $1000 and if the price did go to $10 000, you would have made huge profits.

You have to remember, people do not need to buy whole Bitcoins... Some can only afford a fraction of it, and as this was happening, loads of people bought smaller fractions, just to be a part of it.

Greed sometimes cloud judgement. 

[Bejkn]

please see here's what you need to do?? http://api.bitcoincharts.com/v1/csv/

[Amph]

many were actually selling, or using it to buy goods, remember the famous example of the pizza bought for 10k bitcoin? bitcoin was less traded back then but more spent, because was considered worthless, not only by a price point of view

miners probably were holding because there wasn't big farm(at best small gpu farm, 1 rig or something), around that time, so everyone was mining with cpu and they weren't consuming too much in electricity

[minerpumpkin]

Look at the volumes on www.bitcoinwisdom.com, www.bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD, etc. and you might be able to approximately gauge how many BTC could have been bought/sold at that time. Don't torture yourself too hard - for all you know, you could have ended up losing your whole stash in Gox, sold it when it was crashing back to $2 in 2011, or invested it in some scam or Ponzi scheme. Don't be too hard on yourself!

[pedrog]

Hey, welcome!

Here's some input from the guy who made the first purchase with bitcoin:

I spent it all on pizza long ago:  https://blockchain.info/address/1XPTgDRhN8RFnzniWCddobD9iKZatrvH4

3-4 years ago there were less than 100 people frequenting this forum, and I was pretty happy to trade 10,000 coins for pizza.  I mean people can say I'm stupid, but it was a great deal at the time.  I don't think anyone could have known it would take off like this.

Laszlo

Read his last posts: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=143;sa=showPosts

[ABCsYO]

Look at the volumes on www.bitcoinwisdom.com, www.bitcoincharts.com/charts/bitstampUSD, etc. and you might be able to approximately gauge how many BTC could have been bought/sold at that time. Don't torture yourself too hard - for all you know, you could have ended up losing your whole stash in Gox, sold it when it was crashing back to $2 in 2011, or invested it in some scam or Ponzi scheme. Don't be too hard on yourself!

Very, very true. I also took into consideration the fall of Mt. Gox and the thousands that were affected by that. I could have easily been one of those people. Also, knowing my tendencies as far as my stock trading, I probably would have sold it in the $100 range in early 2013, making the total much less than the amount I keep kicking myself with.

Hey, welcome!

Here's some input from the guy who made the first purchase with bitcoin:

I spent it all on pizza long ago:  https://blockchain.info/address/1XPTgDRhN8RFnzniWCddobD9iKZatrvH4

3-4 years ago there were less than 100 people frequenting this forum, and I was pretty happy to trade 10,000 coins for pizza.  I mean people can say I'm stupid, but it was a great deal at the time.  I don't think anyone could have known it would take off like this.

Laszlo

Read his last posts: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=143;sa=showPosts

I am indeed aware of the famous pizza trade. I've seen the 'idiot' and 'stupid' comments everywhere but its easy to say that in hindsight. That trade is famous today in alot of ways but mainly for the fact that it validated Bitcoin as a currency.

Thank you all for your insight, all I can do now is look to the future.

[gentlemand]

At the piddliest price levels I'm not sure there was much or any actual trading going on. Everyone was mining.

Have a read of this to see the level of market 'action' https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=92.0

If you did want to buy it then it was mainly through bitcoin otc with paypal but even then people weren't inclined to trust newbies. One guy was given 2000 coins by someone who felt sorry for him when no one would do a deal.

It's very easy to assume you would've loaded up when it was 1300 coins for $1 but the chances are they would've been lost in a hardware failure, been scammed or sold off much earlier. Pretty hard to resist when your outlay had gone up 1300x to dollar parity within a year or so.

[eddy937]

At the piddliest price levels I'm not sure there was much or any actual trading going on. Everyone was mining.

Have a read of this to see the level of market 'action' https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=92.0

If you did want to buy it then it was mainly through bitcoin otc with paypal but even then people weren't inclined to trust newbies. One guy was given 2000 coins by someone who felt sorry for him when no one would do a deal.

It's very easy to assume you would've loaded up when it was 1300 coins for $1 but the chances are they would've been lost in a hardware failure, been scammed or sold off much earlier. Pretty hard to resist when your outlay had gone up 1300x to dollar parity within a year or so.

I read about someone who had about 350K coins in the early days. The temptation to sell when they hit a dollar must have been enormous.

[Morecoin Freeman]

Welcome! You could still be lucky because it seems like your timing to get involved is good.
Don't let the bear trolls get at you and you'll probably have a good time on here.

Be cautious though: Once you're in the game, there are no easy exits. Bitcoin will change your life.

[eddy937]

I just found a copy of a 2009 page from a very early Bitcoin trading site.

http://web.archive.org/web/20091229132610/http://newlibertystandard.wetpaint.com/page/Exchange+Rate

Take a look at these incredibly low prices from 2009.

Mid-Market Exchange Rate History
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/28/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/27/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/26/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/25/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/24/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/23/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,578.77 BTC   12/22/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,594.63 BTC   12/21/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,594.63 BTC   12/20/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,586.70 BTC   12/19/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,622.40 BTC   12/18/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,630.33 BTC   12/17/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,606.53 BTC   12/16/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,626.37 BTC   12/15/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,626.37 BTC   12/14/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,618.43 BTC   12/13/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,562.90 BTC   12/12/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,503.40 BTC   12/11/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,491.50 BTC   12/10/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,455.80 BTC   12/09/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,428.03 BTC   12/08/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,392.33 BTC   12/07/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,364.56 BTC   12/06/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,336.80 BTC   12/05/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,340.76 BTC   12/04/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,297.13 BTC   12/03/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,257.46 BTC   12/02/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,233.66 BTC   12/01/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,213.83 BTC   11/30/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,205.89 BTC   11/29/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,178.13 BTC   11/28/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,162.26 BTC   11/27/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,114.66 BTC   11/26/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,110.69 BTC   11/25/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,078.96 BTC   11/24/2009
$1.00 USD   =   999.62 BTC   11/23/2009
$1.00 USD   =   944.09 BTC   11/22/2009
$1.00 USD   =   940.12 BTC   11/21/2009
$1.00 USD   =   928.22 BTC   11/20/2009
$1.00 USD   =   932.19 BTC   11/19/2009
$1.00 USD   =   904.42 BTC   11/18/2009
$1.00 USD   =   848.89 BTC   11/17/2009
$1.00 USD   =   840.96 BTC   11/16/2009
$1.00 USD   =   809.22 BTC   11/15/2009
$1.00 USD   =   777.49 BTC   11/14/2009
$1.00 USD   =   737.82 BTC   11/13/2009
$1.00 USD   =   745.75 BTC   11/12/2009
$1.00 USD   =   769.55 BTC   11/11/2009
$1.00 USD   =   809.22 BTC   11/10/2009
$1.00 USD   =   793.35 BTC   11/09/2009
$1.00 USD   =   793.35 BTC   11/08/2009
$1.00 USD   =   781.45 BTC   11/07/2009
$1.00 USD   =   777.49 BTC   11/06/2009
$1.00 USD   =   765.59 BTC   11/05/2009
$1.00 USD   =   765.59 BTC   11/04/2009
$1.00 USD   =   785.42 BTC   11/03/2009
$1.00 USD   =   796.09 BTC   11/02/2009
$1.00 USD   =   820.27 BTC   11/01/2009
$1.00 USD   =   802.17 BTC   10/31/2009
$1.00 USD   =   796.41 BTC   10/30/2009
$1.00 USD   =   790.17 BTC   10/29/2009
$1.00 USD   =   778.48 BTC   10/28/2009
$1.00 USD   =   791.63 BTC   10/27/2009
$1.00 USD   =   789.75 BTC   10/26/2009
$1.00 USD   =   776.35 BTC   10/25/2009
$1.00 USD   =   785.42 BTC   10/24/2009
$1.00 USD   =   795.44 BTC   10/23/2009
$1.00 USD   =   819.80 BTC   10/22/2009
$1.00 USD   =   826.02 BTC   10/21/2009
$1.00 USD   =   810.71 BTC   10/20/2009
$1.00 USD   =   801.29 BTC   10/19/2009
$1.00 USD   =   816.02 BTC   10/18/2009
$1.00 USD   =   805.56 BTC   10/17/2009
$1.00 USD   =   803.27 BTC   10/16/2009
$1.00 USD   =   854.66 BTC   10/15/2009
$1.00 USD   =   880.62 BTC   10/14/2009
$1.00 USD   =   885.91 BTC   10/13/2009
$1.00 USD   =   907.40 BTC   10/12/2009
$1.00 USD   =   867.02 BTC   10/11/2009
$1.00 USD   =   892.52 BTC   10/10/2009
$1.00 USD   =   833.02 BTC   10/09/2009
$1.00 USD   =   922.27 BTC   10/08/2009
$1.00 USD   =   952.02 BTC   10/07/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,130.53 BTC   10/06/2009
$1.00 USD   =   1,309.03 BTC   10/05/2009

[ensurance982]

At the piddliest price levels I'm not sure there was much or any actual trading going on. Everyone was mining.

Have a read of this to see the level of market 'action' https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=92.0

If you did want to buy it then it was mainly through bitcoin otc with paypal but even then people weren't inclined to trust newbies. One guy was given 2000 coins by someone who felt sorry for him when no one would do a deal.

It's very easy to assume you would've loaded up when it was 1300 coins for $1 but the chances are they would've been lost in a hardware failure, been scammed or sold off much earlier. Pretty hard to resist when your outlay had gone up 1300x to dollar parity within a year or so.

I read about someone who had about 350K coins in the early days. The temptation to sell when they hit a dollar must have been enormous.

Well, keep in mind that in those early stages the liquidity would most likely not have been high enough to sell such a large amount of coins. This would be equivalent to sell coins being worth almost $80m. That would surely crash the market.

[randy8777]

@eddy937 thanks for posting these prices. damn. a $1 investment in 2009 would be worth +$1.5million at the peak. that's just insane if you think about that.

[eddy937]

@eddy937 thanks for posting these prices. damn. a $1 investment in 2009 would be worth +$1.5million at the peak. that's just insane if you think about that.

That webpage says there were 15,100 Bitcoins available for sale on 12/28/2009 at a price of about $10. The pizza guy got quite a good deal considering the prices back then! He only sold 10,000!

[Amph]

At the piddliest price levels I'm not sure there was much or any actual trading going on. Everyone was mining.

Have a read of this to see the level of market 'action' https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=92.0

If you did want to buy it then it was mainly through bitcoin otc with paypal but even then people weren't inclined to trust newbies. One guy was given 2000 coins by someone who felt sorry for him when no one would do a deal.

It's very easy to assume you would've loaded up when it was 1300 coins for $1 but the chances are they would've been lost in a hardware failure, been scammed or sold off much earlier. Pretty hard to resist when your outlay had gone up 1300x to dollar parity within a year or so.

I read about someone who had about 350K coins in the early days. The temptation to sell when they hit a dollar must have been enormous.

Well, keep in mind that in those early stages the liquidity would most likely not have been high enough to sell such a large amount of coins. This would be equivalent to sell coins being worth almost $80m. That would surely crash the market.

the market was so tiny that any amount that would crash it, would mean nothing to be honest, because it could always recover quickly enough

even a poor guy would buy a tons of bitcoin with such ridiculous price

[sgk]

I keep torturing myself with this idea that I could have made out big with an early investment in Bitcoin.

Saying you (or we) are NOT early adopters of Bitcoin would be so wrong. If you didn't adopt Bitcoin in 2010 or 2011, that's just one way of looking at it.
Crypto currency technology and market is still in its early stage and adopting Bitcoin today still makes you an early adopter.

Remember all people who bought Bitcoin at 10 cents and sold everything when the price hit 10 dollars? We can only speculate on the real potential of this technology and it is not impossible to but Bitcoin now and have the same level of price rise in next few years. Talk about having bought at $250 and making $25000 a coin after a few years. It may seem impossible to some, but going from 10 cents to 10 dollars also seemed impossible to many. Just be faithful.

Just make sure you invest only what you can afford to lose.