Is day trading on Coinbase profitable?

[JackRipper]

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.

If you are an "average" trader, your EV would be a loss of whatever the exchange fees are. In this case, it would be 1%. Also, don't forget that fees are charges entering and exiting a position. If you're a frequent trader, those fees really add up. That's why its best yo choose an exchange with low fees.

[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

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?

bitfinex is usa based if i'm not mistaken, but i'm not sure they don't report it in their site and i can't find nothing on the web

on kraken you are right i missed some zero..., well then bitfinex seems one of the best

[bitcoinrocks]

So if I open a long position in BTC and I don't close it, I'm left with some BTC.  If I open a short position in BTC and I don't close it, what am I left with?

[crazyivan]

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.

Haha, a very nice plan. What happens when you buy at $225 and the price drops to $220?

[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.

Haha, a very nice plan. What happens when you buy at $225 and the price drops to $220?

Then I scored some more long-term BTC at the cheapest price I've had yet.

[Pentax]

I'd say the last place I'd day trade BTC on is Coinbase.

I seem to remember an article saying that they were running an algorithmic trading system to set their pricing.  I could be wrong on that, but you never beat the box.

That is not to say you can't buy low and sell high, it just seems they are more likely to carve into your margins than elsewhere as they'll be out in front of you 99.9% of the time.

[crazyivan]

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.

Haha, a very nice plan. What happens when you buy at $225 and the price drops to $220?

Then I scored some more long-term BTC at the cheapest price I've had yet.

Wait, so u re not joking, u re serious about this plan?

[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.

Haha, a very nice plan. What happens when you buy at $225 and the price drops to $220?

Then I scored some more long-term BTC at the cheapest price I've had yet.

Wait, so u re not joking, u re serious about this plan?

Sure I'm serious.

[pooya87]

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.

this is what i was thinking before i started trading. i though it is easy an i simply buy low and sell higher (with considering fees) and i will profit. but in action it is much harder than that, specially in a long run.

anyway i figured out that bitcoin market is not meant for me so i went to altcoin market and it was good for me so far. but i still have much to learn.

[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.

this is what i was thinking before i started trading. i though it is easy an i simply buy low and sell higher (with considering fees) and i will profit. but in action it is much harder than that, specially in a long run.

anyway i figured out that bitcoin market is not meant for me so i went to altcoin market and it was good for me so far. but i still have much to learn.

I'm coming from the other direction.  I know the altcoin market well but lately I've been wondering if I'm neglecting BTC.

Were you trying to make multiple trades per day?  I'm thinking more like swing trading (although I said day trading before).

[dr.offher]

No, it's not profitable. Better invest your hard-earned money on something fun like hookers or cocaine. Same ROI.

You can only make money trading if a) you're gambling with other people's money or b) you have access to priviledged information (this is called inside trading and is highly illegal) and/or can exploit order flow (a practice called "front running", which, like insider trading, is also in violation of every securities law on the planet).

I guess there's also option c), which is the investment equivalent to Russian roulette. Imagine 10,000 monkeys throwing darts at a candlestick chart; with enough market participants, a random simian millionaire is bound to emerge from this twisted economic experiment.

[Q7]

If you have the fund to protect yourself against losses, yeah why not. It's a matter of how much you can make and whether you are willing to let the fund sitting idle in your account and wait until the price is right before selling. If you aim big margin trading is the way to go.

[numismatist]

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.

The fees are exactly that high for a reason. There goes the gains.

[bitcoinrocks]

No, it's not profitable. Better invest your hard-earned money on something fun like hookers or cocaine. Same ROI.

You can only make money trading if a) you're gambling with other people's money or b) you have access to priviledged information (this is called inside trading and is highly illegal) and/or can exploit order flow (a practice called "front running", which, like insider trading, is also in violation of every securities law on the planet).

I guess there's also option c), which is the investment equivalent to Russian roulette. Imagine 10,000 monkeys throwing darts at a candlestick chart; with enough market participants, a random simian millionaire is bound to emerge from this twisted economic experiment.

It could be different in my case because I wouldn't mind holding more BTC long-term.  Assuming the price of BTC is going up long-term (which is a belief of mine), how could I lose?

[dr.offher]

It could be different in my case because I wouldn't mind holding more BTC long-term.  Assuming the price of BTC is going up long-term (which is a belief of mine), how could I lose?

But that wouldn't be day trading anymore, now would it?

Not that there's anything wrong with the good old buy/hold strategy, it's actually a lot better than trying to time the market, which, at the end of the day, is all day trading is, really.

You just have to accept it's a gamble.

[bitcoinrocks]

But that wouldn't be day trading anymore, now would it?

No and I pointed that out a few posts back:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1053907.msg11330647#msg11330647

[chriswen]

If you're interested in an exchange you should consider one where a lot of trading volume is being done.  For margin trading okcoin.cn and bitfinex.com are good.  Okcoin.com is still developing.  What's good about these sites is that you can implement 3x leverage.  Leverage is a useful tool for augmenting your trading balance.

And then there are the okcoin.com futures that lets you use up to 20x leverage.  It's slightly different from margin trading so it takes a bit to learn but futures are also another good tool for trading.

Profitability is slightly dependant on skill.  Everyone might have a slight edge in different areas, or you can just suck at trading.  Trading takes experience and screen time.  Don't think of it as easy money.

One of the main goals of trading is to not lose your money.  If you don't lose all your money you'll be able to come back to trade another day.

Another key to trading is patience.  You need to wait for good trade setups.  If you overtrade then that can lead to disaster.  You do not always need to be in a position.  Wait for high probability trade setups.

I trade purely on okcoin.com but another site might be better in your situation.  Okcoin futures offer up to 20x leverage and offers 0.03% trading fees.

https://www.okcoin.com/?invid=2033157

Also note that you can both long and short which means you can profit off of any direction.  If you're new wait for good entry points for longer term trades.  Other people are better at scalping which is short term trades for smaller spreads.

And I think the other thing about the bots is a bit ridiculous.  Bots can help add liquidity to the market.  They also just implement strategies, and those strategies can be wrong. 

[CryptoTrout]

Day trading on Coinbase cant be easy in this low volatility.  I don't bother trading BTC/USD without leverage.

[Amph]

Day trading on Coinbase cant be easy in this low volatility.  I don't bother trading BTC/USD without leverage.

with this low volatility you need leverage more then ever, to raise you profit with lower risk, i would agree to no use it if the swings were higher

[bitcoinrocks]

Also note that you can both long and short which means you can profit off of any direction.

What are you left with if you open a short position and you never close it?