Lose all your capital fast, with MatTheCat and his TA 101A!

[Gyrsur]

so sad!

[1713529092]

1713529092

[1713529092]

1713529092

[marcus_of_augustus]

such a delicate little flower shouldn't be let outside his gubmint-coddled walled-garden anyway ... but here, have a participant ribbon for showing up to play.

[r0ach]

I still don't comprehend how after being the #1 person on the entire forum saying Finex is a scam, MatTheMat loads up his entire bank account onto the site and then gets goxed.

[sgbett]

Bitcoin is not going to take over the world, it is going to die a slow drawn out death, amongst a cesspit of exchange corruption, hacks, and thefts, as the Chinese miners with their massive energy rebates, who cannot make ends meet at $500 (or less) Bitcoin, slowly start to throw in the towel and switch off their farms, bringing the network to grinding halt, with 24 hour transaction confirmations becoming standard.......

A trader? making the same mistakes? it can't be!

You believe bitcoin is going to die, because you are emotionally invested. It has to die, or you will feel an overwhelming sense of failure for missing out when everyone said just buy and hold, and you decided they were wrong.

You were here before the 266 run up and if you'd bought and hodlded you would be up, probably a lot, so much so that it would probably be impossible for you *not* to be at a negative cost basis right now. So you are kicking yourself. When it crashed from 266  everyone kept saying just buy and hold, it still never went much below 100 and so it still seemed too expensive. (I was there I remember feeling that). So you didn't you decided to trade, because they were all wrong, and trading is surely a better way to profit. Then it went over $1k and once again the opportunity was lost. Then it crashed again, at 800 everyone said buy and hold, but now its way too expensive so trading is surely the better option. Then it went down to $500 and all the traders laughed at the buy and holders, because still its far too expensive to buy now and ever make any serious profit just holding. I was still buying, then at 400 I was still buying, and then 300 I'm buying and thinking "seriously why aren't you buying and holding!?!?!". All around I see traders... "no, no, more profit is to be had trading!".

I feel the emotional turmoil of all the buys that are above the current price, and all the sells that were below the current price. Two days ago I discovered that I could finally buy a BTC ETF in my SIPP, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger with a huge chunk of change, and here I am two days later 25% down, d'oh. Its just the same old story. It goes up, it goes down, I can only ever lose what I have invested. I have only invested what I can afford to lose. I couldn't possibly have predicted when any given catastrophe is going to hit the price.

You are suffering from anchoring, you can't see that $1 of bitcoin bought *right now* costs you $1 if it goes to nothing, but could net you several thousand percent gain if the black swan happens. All you can see is the price then, the price now, and how you missed out already. So to soothe your loss you declare bitcoin to have failed. If it has failed, then you were right all along and you can feel better.

To me that seems an even more risky than buy and hold, but what would I know about risk - I am not a trader!

Short selling anything is the worst possible risk profile imho. Limited upside, unlimited downside. Why on earth anyone would short anything is beyond me.

You are mentally *short* on bitcoin, that looks like a really dangerous trade from where I am stood.

[MatTheCat]

I still don't comprehend how after being the #1 person on the entire forum saying Finex is a scam, MatTheMat loads up his entire bank account onto the site and then gets goxed.

Same old MatTheCat problem that has affected him all his life...

....capable of saying wise and clever things, but his actions generally leave a lot to be desired.


After getting robbed on Kraken, I told practically everyone I know (in the real world), that I think that I was 100% finished with Bitcoin. Since my Kraken account was emptied, and I witnessed how Kraken just told me (and plenty others) to fuck off, with impunity (Who am I gonna call? What am I gonna do? Am I going to fly over to San Francisco and punch Jesse Powell in his soft geeky face?), I realised just how vulnerable my, and everyone else's funds were sitting on ANY crypto currency exchange. Thus my decision was, to pull everything from BTC, and cash out for good.......WISE DECISION!  

Except, for various reasons, and due to some strange twists of coincidence, I never actually got around to doing this. The closest I got was late last week, when I had my BTC limit order up on Finex, only to realise that I couldn't withdraw cos I didn't have my mobile to hand.

I guess some people are just made of LOSE. Even if they (like myself), have been bestowed with an above average level of intelligence, some people (like myself), just seem to have some deep subconscious instinct for sniffing out the LOSE.

[r0ach]

Same old MatTheCat problem that has affected him all his life...

It's possible I pre-ordained it

The cat joins the exchange
And quickly he's subdued
Through constant stop loss hunts
The young boy learns their rules

With time the cat draws in
This whipping cat done wrong
Deprived of all his coins
The young cat struggles on and on he's known
A vow unto his own
That never from this day
Bitfinex would take away his coins easy

[MatTheCat]

You are mentally *short* on bitcoin, that looks like a really dangerous trade from where I am stood.

Correct.

Except b4 I learned about even what a MACD was...I did make thousands trading Bitcoin, and my instinct did kick in right at the top, and I did get out at the top, and I did buy the first big drop, etc etc.....I also bought the 2nd drop, but it dropped much further than I anticipated and I ended up taking a $2K hit on a trade that would have turned into a $6K win had I just held for another couple of weeks......

......I then decided to start learning a little about TA. Since then, I have lost way more than I have won in Bitcoin. I forgot about Bitcoin for a long time, bought in $200 range in 2015, then got all fucked up once again in the Nov 2015 FOMO and then the Nov Panic Sell, and ended up losing a fucking packet once again....I then decided to learn TA properly, and pay to do an online trading course.

Since then, I have made more profit than loss, but the Kraken theft has eaten into much of those profits and if my Finex account just dissappears into the ether of corporate insolvency and/or socialised losses....then man oh man......I will sorely regret the day that I even first heard of Bitcoin, which to rub salt in the wounds, was indeed way back in 2011....

....only positive effect that I could say Bitcoin has had on my life so far, is that it has enabled darknet markets, and the procurement of Mescaline.....a truly wonderful substance. Other than that, it has just been a total headfuck and a huge financial drain.......I can't wait to see the back of it tbh.


I also believe that I would be able to trade other assets way more affectively than I do Bitcoin, precisely because of all the emotional turmoil and baggage that I have associated with Bitcoin.


However, sgbett, if you are still long term bullish on Bitcoin, after 120K BTC (which will be slowly drip fed onto the market as a stream of steady selling pressure) was just stolen from by far the biggest  and most liquid USD exchange around, then I really do have to question your wisdom, if not your sanity. Sure, Bitcoin could easily recover $100-$150 at some point in the future. That is what markets do. They go up and down. I was bearish on Bitcoin before these hacks (surprise surprise), and have touted $450 as a downside target for some time, but this massive Finex theft totally reorganises the Fundamental outlook for Bitcoin, and don't forget. $500 is now the price that the Chinese miners need just to break even! Bitcoin is critically ill, and destined for intensive care imo, and I have no interest at all in whether it will pull through in the end or not. There are far better trading opportunities in more stable, and more secure markets, operating on exchanges that aren't just going to vanish with all their customers money.

[CoinCube]

I still don't comprehend how after being the #1 person on the entire forum saying Finex is a scam, MatTheMat loads up his entire bank account onto the site and then gets goxed.

Same old MatTheCat problem that has affected him all his life...

....capable of saying wise and clever things, but his actions generally leave a lot to be desired.


After getting robbed on Kraken, I told practically everyone I know (in the real world), that I think that I was 100% finished with Bitcoin. Since my Kraken account was emptied, and I witnessed how Kraken just told me (and plenty others) to fuck off, with impunity (Who am I gonna call? What am I gonna do? Am I going to fly over to San Francisco and punch Jesse Powell in his soft geeky face?), I realised just how vulnerable my, and everyone else's funds were sitting on ANY crypto currency exchange. Thus my decision was, to pull everything from BTC, and cash out for good.......WISE DECISION!  

Except, for various reasons, and due to some strange twists of coincidence, I never actually got around to doing this. The closest I got was late last week, when I had my BTC limit order up on Finex, only to realise that I couldn't withdraw cos I didn't have my mobile to hand.

I guess some people are just made of LOSE. Even if they (like myself), have been bestowed with an above average level of intelligence, some people (like myself), just seem to have some deep subconscious instinct for sniffing out the LOSE.

You warnings and writings about Bitfinex probably helped others. I do not trade but I posted links to some of your post to warn other about Bitfinix in the past.

I suspect you have probably saved a number of people from losing money in this recent mess. Not sure if that helps or not but it is something.

However, sgbett, if you are still long term bullish on Bitcoin, after 120K BTC (which will be slowly drip fed onto the market as a stream of steady selling pressure) was just stolen from by far the biggest  and most liquid USD exchange around, then I really do have to question your wisdom, if not your sanity. Sure, Bitcoin could easily recover $100-$150 at some point in the future. That is what markets do. They go up and down. I was bearish on Bitcoin before these hacks (surprise surprise), and have touted $450 as a downside target for some time, but this massive Finex theft totally reorganises the Fundamental outlook for Bitcoin, and don't forget. $500 is now the price that the Chinese miners need just to break even! Bitcoin is critically ill, and destined for intensive care imo, and I have no interest at all in whether it will pull through in the end or not. There are far better trading opportunities in more stable, and more secure markets, operating on exchanges that aren't just going to vanish with all their customers money.

Your posts from some time ago MatTheCat convinced me that Bitfinex was at the very least unprofessionally run. I still remember being shocked when the exchange operator disclosed you account balance on a public forum and sounded like a small angry child when you pointed out some shady behavior.

Personally I suspect the failure of Bitfinex was inevitable based on that behavior alone and that it was just a question of when.

[Derek492]

Why would anyone ever put money into something called the Kraken? Just think about the name of it for a moment. Sound like a good place to deposit and trade?

[MatTheCat]

Your posts from some time ago MatTheCat convinced me that Bitfinex was at the very least unprofessionally run. I still remember being shocked when the exchange operator disclosed you account balance on a public forum and sounded like a small angry child when you pointed out some shady behavior.

Personally I suspect the failure of Bitfinex was inevitable based on that behavior alone and that it was just a question of when.

I was naive back then.

If an individual or a group of individuals run/own/operate a financial trading exchange, that is subject to no regulatory oversight and doesn't need to comply with any of the normal financial rules, then rather than suspected, it should be expected that individuals with back end access to the exchange, can and will trade against their own customers, front running them in the process, triggering weak hands into thier buy/sell orders wherever and whenever they can.

Indeed, since then, one of the main stakeholders in Finex has admitted that he traded on his own exchange, although he did claim that he only used the exchange for large market buy or sell orders. Whether anyone wants to believe him about that, then that is up to them. I know I don't, and I know that this will be only the tip of the iceberg.....


Regarding dubious individuals operating behind the scenes at Bitfinex, this went up on reddit a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/4vtv1m/bitfinex_down_due_to_bitcoin_security_breach/d62dnnt?context=3

Rumour Mill: Hacker has been caught and was Bitfinex employee. Whether true or not I don't know....I certainly hope that it is.

[Torque]

Regarding dubious individuals operating behind the scenes at Bitfinex, this went up on reddit a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/4vtv1m/bitfinex_down_due_to_bitcoin_security_breach/d62dnnt?context=3

Rumour Mill: Hacker has been caught and was Bitfinex employee. Whether true or not I don't know....I certainly hope that it is.

I swear, if Bitfinex comes out saying that they've recovered most if not all the missing bitcoin, then we will KNOW that this all was just an elaborate scam to crash the market so that they could short it.

[MatTheCat]

Regarding dubious individuals operating behind the scenes at Bitfinex, this went up on reddit a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/4vtv1m/bitfinex_down_due_to_bitcoin_security_breach/d62dnnt?context=3

Rumour Mill: Hacker has been caught and was Bitfinex employee. Whether true or not I don't know....I certainly hope that it is.

I swear, if Bitfinex comes out saying that they've recovered most if not all the missing bitcoin, then we will KNOW that this all was just an elaborate scam to crash the market so that they could short it.

Totally destroy their businesses reputation for the sake of a quick jackpot cash-in bonanza?

And risk criminal prosecution if it came to light that this was all an elaborate scam?

[Torque]

Regarding dubious individuals operating behind the scenes at Bitfinex, this went up on reddit a while ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/4vtv1m/bitfinex_down_due_to_bitcoin_security_breach/d62dnnt?context=3

Rumour Mill: Hacker has been caught and was Bitfinex employee. Whether true or not I don't know....I certainly hope that it is.

I swear, if Bitfinex comes out saying that they've recovered most if not all the missing bitcoin, then we will KNOW that this all was just an elaborate scam to crash the market so that they could short it.

Totally destroy their businesses reputation for the sake of a quick jackpot cash-in bonanza?

And risk criminal prosecution if it came to light that this was all an elaborate scam?

Their business reputation is already destroyed, has been for a while with all scammy crap they have routinely pulled.  So now you are defending them?

[Tzupy]

Whole bunch of people gonna get wrecked!

Mat, since you still haven't figured out how this market works, the last move was to secure a $500 floor.  The downside potential now is about non-existent.

We are due to test that $500 mark

no

This is all I asked for 

 

[MatTheCat]

Their business reputation is already destroyed, has been for a while with all scammy crap they have routinely pulled.  So now you are defending them?

Not defending them at all.....but Finex were by far the most liquid (phantom volume and phantom wall activity notwithstanding) USD Bitcoin exchange around. Whether Finex comes back online and resumes trading after this or not, Finex's status as #1 Western BTC exchange, is going to change. I have fallen out with Bitfinex in the past, and have pulled all my funds from the exchange voying never to use them again.....

.....but what are the alternatives?

...not very many. One alternative was Kraken, but crap liquidity, expensive BTC swap rates for shorts, so needless to say, I have found myself back at Bitfinex, and thank fuck I did, otherwise I would have lost several thousand USD by now due to Kraken's much less publicised security breach on 20th July. As it stands with Bitfinex, I may have lost thousands of USD, I may not have lost anything, or I may have to take a haircut on what I had in my Finex account.

Traders are far more likely to 'forgive' incidences of blatant insider trading and exchange stop runs, often with the belief that they just need to trade smarter etc....blatant theft and emptying of accounts is however, a completely different matter. Even Finex account holders who end up not getting robbed, this experience will certainly give them food for thought. As I said before, there is absolutely no reason why a trader should have to put up with this level of corruption and risk, just in order to trade Bitcoin. Been a very long time since Bitcoin offered any gains beyond what can be much more easily got in the stock markets.....or in Forex if margin trading is taken into consideration.

[CoinCube]

.....but what are the alternatives?

Participate in a market without leverage and in the safest available exchange probably Gemini at the moment but opinions on this may vary.

Don't let desire for outsized gains using high margin accounts allow you to get sucked into placing your BTC into shady hands. With the failure of Bitfinix it is inevitable that before too long some new shady exchange will open offering 10X or 20X leverage. It will not be a good idea to place bitcoin with this exchange.

Decide if you believe bitcoin has a chance at a long term future. If you believe it does as I do decide on how much exposure you are willing to take long term.

Hedge you bets, keep at least 50% preferably more of your BTC offline in cold storage. A well vetted open source code used to create paper wallets is https://www.bitaddress.org/ but do your homework here.

Set long term goals that free you from day to day worry about price. Personally I have set my own investment goal as a number of BTC that I wish to own. As I have not yet hit this goal unlike most I am happy when the price goes down. Plan ahead with your Bitcoins. I did not start buying BTC until 2014 but the ones I do buy get divided into three separate categories

1) Long term cold storage. These I have set aside to give to my kids when they grow up. They are either going to be worth something or nothing but regardless these do not get touched no matter what happens to BTC price under any circumstances.

2) Long term investment. These I will start to sell if I achieve certain predetermined gains. I have decided ahead of time how many I will sell and at what price I will sell at.

3) Short term investment. These I can do whatever I want with including day trading though I do not do that currently. These I will liquidate if I need funds if I find a more attractive investment or if become concerned about short term price outlook.

[Ibian]

Reminder that mat likes the victim role. He intentionally points his naked ass in the air, and then complains about how much being butt fucked hurts. This is why he has "reasons" for not turning his bitcoins into fiat. He wants to be a martyr.

Edit: Hat tip to sgbett for an even better analysis. It is the same basic psychological profile, but he said it so much better.

[CoinCube]

Reminder that mat likes the victim role. He intentionally points his naked ass in the air, and then complains about how much being butt fucked hurts. This is why he has "reasons" for not turning his bitcoins into fiat. He wants to be a martyr.

He has performed a public service by highlighting to the community the dangers of various exchanges. Unfortunately it appears his desire for leverage lead him to ignore his own good advice. I feel bad for him and so should the community. I suspect he saved some people money with his accurate warnings about bitfinex.  

[Ibian]

Reminder that mat likes the victim role. He intentionally points his naked ass in the air, and then complains about how much being butt fucked hurts. This is why he has "reasons" for not turning his bitcoins into fiat. He wants to be a martyr.

He has performed a public service by highlighting to the community the dangers of various exchanges. Unfortunately it appears his desire for leverage lead him to ignore his own good advice. I feel bad for him and so should the community. I suspect he saved some people money with his accurate warnings about bitfinex.  

Except that a lot of people take him as a reverse indicator. Let's meet halfway and call it a non-event.

[CoinCube]

Except that a lot of people take him as a reverse indicator. Let's meet halfway and call it a non-event.

Here is where MatTheCat warned others about shady happenings at Bitfinex
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660948.msg7444557#msg7444557

One month ago I warned others to stay away from Bitfinex something I would not have known to do had it not been for MatTheCats information
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355212.msg15428581#msg15428581

I have a suggestion for a 42% per annum fixed income investment by lending your USD at Bitfinex:

Its some worry they could find no alternative to 42%   Doesnt crowd funding usually achieve cheaper rates, Im not sure

This exchange lost 1,500 BTC in a hack last year.
http://cointelegraph.com/news/breaking-bitfinex-hot-wallet-hacked-bitcoins-stolen

Interest rate is probably so high out of a concern the company is under capitalized.

I also saw this post a while ago about strange things that go on at that exchange.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660948.msg7444557#msg7444557

The combination is enough for me to stay far far away.

Recently MatTheCat has provided another highly concerning warning about another potentially problematic exchange.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1559553.msg15656643#msg15656643