I'm responding to a thread in another section to which I can't get post.
A bank transfer is going to be the cheapest method.
In the U.S. you can buy bitcoins at a 1% fee through Coinbase using a bank transfer. The problem there is that they are limiting that to $100 maximum (for now, while they test their algorithms) and that you don't get the coins until the funds transfer is complete (at least two business days). But you do get to lock in the price immediately.
Dwolla is another inexpensive method to move cash from your bank account to a Bitcoin exchange. The problem with that again is the amount of time involved. But the price is right ... $0.25 per transaction.
Is this the "P2P Direct Deposit" option they have? I'm working on getting verified so that I can use that option. Verification is taking a while and in retrospect I would not have bitcoin if I had just sent in a personal check but at this point I don't want to deposit any money until the account verification is complete because I don't want any problems.
I suppose sending a check through a bank's online billpay might be free. Or you can mail it yourself for the cost of a stamp.
I can't see how many trades are occurring at coinbase and it is hard to gauge how much coin can be bought/sold at what prices.
I was trading on btc-e a few weeks back and enjoyed purchasing bitcoins for cheaper than they cost on mt gox at the time. I haven't found a decent way to get USD in/out of btc-e though which is maybe why their coin is cheaper.
not sure. I'm learning. Wish I'd been able to get coin last week looks like it has increased in value a bit.
