Why is China so much more expensive?

[zimmah]

Yesterday China was trading for 2080ish ($330 or €300) while European and American exchanges traded for $317 and €287 respectively.

Usually when there are big differences between exchanges, arbitrage will cause them to move towards each other in price. (I'm going to ignore Russia here because Russia has obvious reasons to lag behind).

Now the European and American exchanges haven't really moved much today but China actually went up to 2123 ($336 or €305.5)

Why is China so much more expensive? Are we just slow to respond? Does China have good reasons to be more expensive?

Depending on how hard it is to trade in Chinese accounts it seems like free money, buy Bitcoin in an European or American exchange, move the Bitcoin to a Chinese exchange, sell it for CNY, sell the CNY for dollars/euros, buy Bitcoin for those, rinse and repeat.

This might be harder than it sounds.

[OmegaStarScream]

Bitcoin mining farms are mostly all in China , invetors are mostly all in china and as you can see they have all the huge trading volumes (Huobi & OKcoin) and they are probably doing some market manipulation since they have shitload of coins as I said .

[zimmah]

Bitcoin mining farms are mostly all in China , invetors are mostly all in china and as you can see they have all the huge trading volumes (Huobi & OKcoin) and they are probably doing some market manipulation since they have shitload of coins as I said .

Note that with 0 fees you can trade the same coin over and over and over.

More volume does not automatically mean higher prices, and more supply definitly does not automatically mean higher prices either. Just because they have more Bitcoin doesn't mean that they should be more expensive.

[traderbit]

Bitcoin mining farms are mostly all in China , invetors are mostly all in china and as you can see they have all the huge trading volumes (Huobi & OKcoin) and they are probably doing some market manipulation since they have shitload of coins as I said .

Note that with 0 fees you can trade the same coin over and over and over.

More volume does not automatically mean higher prices, and more supply definitly does not automatically mean higher prices either. Just because they have more Bitcoin doesn't mean that they should be more expensive.

If they have more volume it means that they can manipulate easily.
Easier than the exchanges that have less volume and less traders.
I think that the exchange rate and fees affect the price too.

[gentlemand]

Gox prices were higher because you couldn't get money out. I still haven't seen a comprehensive answer as to how easy it is to cny in and out of their exchanges. Maybe that's a factor? It's also pretty much a separate market. A foreigner can run in and out with coins, local currency might take forever.

[Snorek]

China are now leading party when it comes to bitcoin market. It will be natural that price will be first shaped on Chinese exchanges and then carry all over.
It won't be long before we will have that higher bitcoin price in US and EU.

[1Referee]

It looks like Huobi is comming back to earth, which makes the difference between them and other exchanges "just" $16 instead of $30 earlier this morning. They were probably hoping other exchange would follow to +$360 but it didn't happen. Huobi peaked at around $366 while the peaks of other exchanges were $30 lower!! Would be nice to hear from a Chinese trader at Huobi why there is such a huge difference.

[doublemore]

It looks like Huobi is comming back to earth, which makes the difference between them and other exchanges "just" $16 instead of $30 earlier this morning. They were probably hoping other exchange would follow to +$360 but it didn't happen. Huobi peaked at around $366 while the peaks of other exchanges were $30 lower!! Would be nice to hear from a Chinese trader at Huobi why there is such a huge difference.

Now down to $14 gap, people need to relax. If there are $30 gaps for a month or something then it might be because of some other reason.  Check the china volume right now though its at record highs.

[zimmah]

It looks like Huobi is comming back to earth, which makes the difference between them and other exchanges "just" $16 instead of $30 earlier this morning. They were probably hoping other exchange would follow to +$360 but it didn't happen. Huobi peaked at around $366 while the peaks of other exchanges were $30 lower!! Would be nice to hear from a Chinese trader at Huobi why there is such a huge difference.

why didn't europe and america follow though?

is there a reason not to follow china?

[Raimonn]

I think the difference could be with the local coin that is more controlled by chinese authorities. Euro and dollars are easy to exchange than Yuan.

[mtnsaa]

I think on top of China government control there must be cheap electricity there because of how many farms are located in China. It's not only China that adopted Bitcoin but markets like Argentina, Brazil, Russia and others are keen to Bitcoin because their own currency is very prone to devaluation.

[zimmah]

I think on top of China government control there must be cheap electricity there because of how many farms are located in China. It's not only China that adopted Bitcoin but markets like Argentina, Brazil, Russia and others are keen to Bitcoin because their own currency is very prone to devaluation.

that would only make it cheaper to produce and therefore they could sell them cheaper.

most of the reasons given in this thread are reasons why bitcoin should be cheaper in china.

the only valid reason i heard is that CNY is not easy to move out of china

[spazzdla]

They are driving the rise the other exchanges are catching up via arbitratoin.

[CIYAM]

The reason is that you can now buy BTC with RMB from banks (supposedly not possible since 2013).

If you understand the issues of "capital control" it is not hard to see why this would push the value of BTC up.

(the real question is how long until they "ban purchasing" again)

[randy8777]

The reason is that you can now buy BTC with RMB from banks (supposedly not possible since 2013).

If you understand the issues of "capital control" it is not hard to see why this would push the value of BTC up.

(the real question is how long until they "ban purchasing" again)

they will ban bitcoin again once they see cash is flowing from china into other parts of the world. i hope they will be a bit more friendly towards bitcoin and embrace it instead of fighting it.

[techboy2]

Bitcoin mining farms are mostly all in China , invetors are mostly all in china and as you can see they have all the huge trading volumes (Huobi & OKcoin) and they are probably doing some market manipulation since they have shitload of coins as I said .

Should this not be the reason why China should be cheaper, not more expensive.

[arbitrage001]

The reason is that you can now buy BTC with RMB from banks (supposedly not possible since 2013).

If you understand the issues of "capital control" it is not hard to see why this would push the value of BTC up.

(the real question is how long until they "ban purchasing" again)

Spot on.

Chinese citizens are using mining and bitcoin as a way to move money out of China.

[DrPaid]

The reason is that you can now buy BTC with RMB from banks (supposedly not possible since 2013).

If you understand the issues of "capital control" it is not hard to see why this would push the value of BTC up.

(the real question is how long until they "ban purchasing" again)

Spot on.

Chinese citizens are using mining and bitcoin as a way to move money out of China.

Exactly this. Well we will see how long it lasts as they ease off.

[CoinNation]

Most miners are in China, when they stop selling, the price will not drop but rise. I do not know the exact catalyst for this rise. Maybe the block chain meeting in China?

[ridery99]

Yesterday China was trading for 2080ish ($330 or €300) while European and American exchanges traded for $317 and €287 respectively.

Usually when there are big differences between exchanges, arbitrage will cause them to move towards each other in price. (I'm going to ignore Russia here because Russia has obvious reasons to lag behind).

Now the European and American exchanges haven't really moved much today but China actually went up to 2123 ($336 or €305.5)

Why is China so much more expensive? Are we just slow to respond? Does China have good reasons to be more expensive?

Depending on how hard it is to trade in Chinese accounts it seems like free money, buy Bitcoin in an European or American exchange, move the Bitcoin to a Chinese exchange, sell it for CNY, sell the CNY for dollars/euros, buy Bitcoin for those, rinse and repeat.

This might be harder than it sounds.

I don't know prob china boyz mo xpensive cause they hav more fiat to throw and market overheated usa eu only following and soon dumping in china too you know.