Is day trading on Coinbase profitable?

[bitcoinrocks]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

[jonald_fyookball]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

Trading doesnt sound very hard.  just increase your balance 1% a day and you're rich!

The catch is that its very hard to win consistently.  The days where you lose will
make it like taking 1 step forward 1 step back...add in the 1% fees and you
start to see its not so easy.

[MRKLYE]

I believe day trading is still profitable everywhere if done correctly.

Of course the big problem with this is that the markets are basically a fugazi and you never know which way its sliding.
I think overall I've likely made < .05 BTC daytrading (or attempting to) and the trick is to have large sums to buy and sell from what I have learned.

Go for it. If you think BTC is going to go up Buy a crapload. wait for it to raise and sell.. Wait for another dip... Rinse and repeat!

[futureofbitcoin]

the markets are a zero-sum game /cliche

But the fees are like a house edge at the casino; making your EV negative. So you can expect to lose, unless you're really lucky or really skillful.

[Chef Ramsay]

The best thing about Coinbase is that it makes it easy for everyday folks in the USA to buy/sell bitcoin. I remember when bitinstant was the only option but now CB makes life way easier to purchase bitcoin by hooking up one's checking account. I bet the lion's share of US interests of normal types are buying on CB.

[louise123]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

[jonald_fyookball]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

unclear what you're saying? bots lead to higher volatility? or lower?
I would say neither is really true.  Bots have little net effect on price action or long term rates.

[Ludi]

Of course it is still profitable, though of course the opposite is true and you can end up losing alot if you're not careful but you can say the same with anything. You can make money buying stocks and trading them, but you can also lose. Start off small and give it a go and see if you can make money. If you're good at it you can invest more and see where you get to but it's never easy work and can be quite stressful so take that into consideration.

[louise123]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

unclear what you're saying? bots lead to higher volatility? or lower?
I would say neither is really true.  Bots have little net effect on price action or long term rates.

Neither.
Bots are set to buy low, sell high.
The only difference nowadays is that there are too many bots,
so the ones running them kind of ask for smaller profit in order to compete with the other bots and have any profit at all.
Which means that the price is not really going anywhere, at the moment.

[jonald_fyookball]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

unclear what you're saying? bots lead to higher volatility? or lower?
I would say neither is really true.  Bots have little net effect on price action or long term rates.

Neither.
Bots are set to buy low, sell high.
The only difference nowadays is that there are too many bots,
so the ones running them kind of ask for smaller profit in order to compete with the other bots and have any profit at all.
Which means that the price is not really going anywhere, at the moment.

that doesn't make sense...because if we price were to be 'going somewhere' without the bots, then for price to stay the same, the bots would all have to be buying or selling in such a way to nearly exactly offset the current trend, which is unlikely.

[Elwar]

So you're buying at $225 selling at $228...you make a few trades maybe get back a few percent on your investment. Then the price drops to $190 and you think...oh shit, this is it, Bitcoins is done for...better sell! It goes to $180 and rebounds going up to $250..oh shit, can't miss out on it going to $1000 again better buy...price drops back down to $225. You now have half of what you started with and are wondering wtf just happened.

In poker if you sit down at the table you can usually tell who the fish is. The guy that everyone else is there to take money from.
If you sit down and don't see the fish. You're the fish.





Convert and spend.

[louise123]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

unclear what you're saying? bots lead to higher volatility? or lower?
I would say neither is really true.  Bots have little net effect on price action or long term rates.

Neither.
Bots are set to buy low, sell high.
The only difference nowadays is that there are too many bots,
so the ones running them kind of ask for smaller profit in order to compete with the other bots and have any profit at all.
Which means that the price is not really going anywhere, at the moment.

that doesn't make sense...because if we price were to be 'going somewhere' without the bots, then for price to stay the same, the bots would all have to be buying or selling in such a way to nearly exactly offset the current trend, which is unlikely.

Erm, actually what you just wrote doesn't make sense.

It's simple:
Once upon a time, one would add a command for the bot to buy let's say at $120 and sell it at $130+
Now they buy at $120 and sell at $123 - $125

In all do fairness I haven't traded in a while, so maybe most of the bots are dead now.
I kind of doubt it though.

[bitcoinrocks]

So you're buying at $225 selling at $228...you make a few trades maybe get back a few percent on your investment. Then the price drops to $190 and you think...oh shit, this is it, Bitcoins is done for...better sell! It goes to $180 and rebounds going up to $250..oh shit, can't miss out on it going to $1000 again better buy...price drops back down to $225. You now have half of what you started with and are wondering wtf just happened.

I could set aside some money and buy at any particular point and wait for it to go up 5% and sell, then wait for it to go down 5% and buy, etc.  If the price goes way up and I don't get a chance to re-buy, it's OK because I still have my separate long-term holdings.  If the price goes down for a long time and I don't get a chance to sell soon, it's OK because that's basically what I've already been doing all this time anyway.  I could call that previous buy more long-term holdings and re-buy for more trading with fresh fiat.  So worst-case scenario I convert more fiat to BTC for long-term holding, and that's OK because I believe the price is going up long-term.

BTW, am I right about the credit card thing with Coinbase?  If I put my credit card on file there I get my BTC instantly?  Is there an "instant limit" that is lower than your daily limit?

[jonald_fyookball]

@louise: yeah but there's other activity besides the bots.  so if price isn't moving it's just that the market is flat right now.

[Elwar]

So you're buying at $225 selling at $228...you make a few trades maybe get back a few percent on your investment. Then the price drops to $190 and you think...oh shit, this is it, Bitcoins is done for...better sell! It goes to $180 and rebounds going up to $250..oh shit, can't miss out on it going to $1000 again better buy...price drops back down to $225. You now have half of what you started with and are wondering wtf just happened.

I could set aside some money and buy at any particular point and wait for it to go up 5% and sell, then wait for it to go down 5% and buy, etc.  If the price goes way up and I don't get a chance to re-buy, it's OK because I still have my separate long-term holdings.  If the price goes down for a long time and I don't get a chance to sell soon, it's OK because that's basically what I've already been doing all this time anyway.  I could call that previous buy more long-term holdings and re-buy for more trading with fresh fiat.  So worst-case scenario I convert more fiat to BTC for long-term holding, and that's OK because I believe the price is going up long-term.

BTW, am I right about the credit card thing with Coinbase?  If I put my credit card on file there I get my BTC instantly?  Is there an "instant limit" that is lower than your daily limit?

If the credit card thing works the way that it works for my bank account I buy bitcoins at a set price and it takes a few days for the money to transfer over. But the price is locked in when you buy.

[bitcoinrocks]

Wait a sec.  Why would I use Coinbase for this?  I could just transfer BTC to any exchange that allows a USD balance and trade back and forth between BTC and USD with much lower fees.  Which exchange is best for that?  BTC-e?  Bitfinex?  I would think they all have fees lower than Coinbase's 1%.

[Lorenzo]

Basically you're asking if it's possible to profit from a sideways market, and it is.

However, other than a few exceptions such as Bitfinex, most Bitcoin exchanges don't offer leverage or the ability to short. Bitcoin is also in a long term bear market, so it's quite possible that you could buy coins at $225 and not have the price increase above that for a long time. It's probably not a big deal if you're a hodler but for a day trader, that's obviously not ideal.

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

As far as I know, the exchanges now are full of trading bots.
And that is not so good for trading in my opinion.
They tend to mess with the price, and that is why there hasn't been any price improvement for a while.

unclear what you're saying? bots lead to higher volatility? or lower?
I would say neither is really true.  Bots have little net effect on price action or long term rates.

Bots do tend to increase volatility in some situations. For example, when there is a breakout in a long term sideways market, the cumulative effect of bots responding to the breakout can have a cascade effect which amplifies the price increase/decrease and pushes the price lower/higher than it would have been otherwise.

[Amph]

Wait a sec.  Why would I use Coinbase for this?  I could just transfer BTC to any exchange that allows a USD balance and trade back and forth between BTC and USD with much lower fees.  Which exchange is best for that?  BTC-e?  Bitfinex?  I would think they all have fees lower than Coinbase's 1%.

before april coinbase was a good choice for trading, look here http://www.coindesk.com/bucks-to-bitcoin-top-exchange-platform-fees-compared/

now it isn't the case anymore, bitfinex and btc-e are leading the podium

but kraken is even better if you trade with a volume above 250, and it ends as low as 0.1 with 1k or more

[AtheistAKASaneBrain]

I've been watching the BTC price for what seems like forever.  Coinbase charges 1% in fees.  I figure if I can (for example) buy at $225 and sell at $228, then I've made over 1%.  It doesn't sound very hard.  I will have my coins instantly if I register my credit card on Coinbase, right?

EDIT: Plus then I get to spend more time reading the hilarity scrolling up the BTC-e trollbox.

Trading doesnt sound very hard.  just increase your balance 1% a day and you're rich!

The catch is that its very hard to win consistently.  The days where you lose will
make it like taking 1 step forward 1 step back...add in the 1% fees and you
start to see its not so easy.

Exactly, running a exchange is a business just like a casino, based on the fat the casino always wins statistically.
The best is to hold long term, day trading is too hard to predict to perform well.
Benefit from shitcoin pumps sometimes if you are feeling lucky, thats that.

[bitcoinrocks]

Wait a sec.  Why would I use Coinbase for this?  I could just transfer BTC to any exchange that allows a USD balance and trade back and forth between BTC and USD with much lower fees.  Which exchange is best for that?  BTC-e?  Bitfinex?  I would think they all have fees lower than Coinbase's 1%.

before april coinbase was a good choice for trading, look here http://www.coindesk.com/bucks-to-bitcoin-top-exchange-platform-fees-compared/

now it isn't the case anymore, bitfinex and btc-e are leading the podium

but kraken is even better if you trade with a volume above 250, and it ends as low as 0.1 with 1k or more

Nice article but they don't include Kraken.  It looks like you would need to trade $250K/month before your fee is .2% at Kraken:

https://www.kraken.com/help/fees

But it starts at .1-.2% at Bitfinex:

https://www.bitfinex.com/pages/fees

Where is Bitfinex located?  Are they trustworthy?