what is really going on? why has the value of bitcoin literally jumped 3$

[aznmonky]

i realize news of the bitcoin atm and start up from silicon valley probably boosted speculation and confidence but what the hell?

[Dyaheon]

Breaking the all time high released some pressure that had been building up for quite a while. That and the positive newsflow etc.

[Elwar]

Bitcoin is a small market. A single large investor can swing the price one way or another rather easily.

The small amount of the market that is traded on the exchanges is what sets the price. And that is a small percentage of the $400million BTC economy.

[piramida]

Somebody bought 1 million worth of btc and now giggles at all the dead bears.

I think it's a small move yet compared to what lies right ahead.

[usagi]

Somebody bought 1 million worth of btc and now giggles at all the dead bears.

I think it's a small move yet compared to what lies right ahead.

Bitcoin is being used to represent real world goods and services, and as that representation increases the (essentially) same amount of bitcoins needs to represent the same amount of goods and services. Compound this with the rise of ASICs, bitcoins have become a lot more scarce to people who normally have bitcoins. I predict this will cause a wave. I think, that when ASICs start hitting a lot harder (mid-march) that is when you will see the rally end.

I'd also like to see the velocity of bitcoin increase a lot more than it is now.

[mccorvic]

Somebody bought 1 million worth of btc and now giggles at all the dead bears.

I think it's a small move yet compared to what lies right ahead.

There is, of course, no way to tell why someone bought $1mil in one go (unless that person comes forward w/evidence of course), but I like to think anyone who buys $1mil USD in one go is either an OTC trader that turns around and sells it to others or a business that is going to start a new BTC venture of some sort.

I really really have hard time thinking it's just one person who is really bored and wants to mess with the minds of people on on little forum

[byronbb]

Think of bitcoin as a tech stock like google or apple etc in its infancy, then its not so amazing when it is priced at $34 and climbing.

[Piper67]

Somebody bought 1 million worth of btc and now giggles at all the dead bears.

I think it's a small move yet compared to what lies right ahead.

There is, of course, no way to tell why someone bought $1mil in one go (unless that person comes forward w/evidence of course), but I like to think anyone who buys $1mil USD in one go is either an OTC trader that turns around and sells it to others or a business that is going to start a new BTC venture of some sort.

I really really have hard time thinking it's just one person who is really bored and wants to mess with the minds of people on on little forum

Maybe it was someone who was heavily invested in Adam's bet 

[mccorvic]

Maybe it was someone who was heavily invested in Adam's bet 

Then we are living under the shadow of a mad man, I tell you! A MAD MAN!

[lebing]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=143973.0

[piramida]

I really really have hard time thinking it's just one person who is really bored and wants to mess with the minds of people on on little forum

I don't think anybody cares much about this forum But there definitely was an organized effort buying out large amounts at market price. Somebody really wanted to break through ATH, for whatever reasons - maybe a calculated move, as right now only proudhon can save BTC from rising to new mad levels; and the force is weak in him.

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

It's just following the exponential trendline since January, with a little delay near the all-time high, resulting in a little jump to catch up to the trend (revert to the norm).

[j05h]

Think of bitcoin as a tech stock like google or apple etc in its infancy, then its not so amazing when it is priced at $34 and climbing.

A stocks value is based on the value of a company, its earnings, and the dividends that are paid to shareholders. 

I think the reason bitcoins are rising are the speculators buying it as an investment.   But I think also The Silk Road is becoming much more popular.  Its the only thing that bitcoin is really needed for.  People buying bitcoins for the Silk Road aren't putting in a bid on Mtgox and waiting for it to go down to their buy price, they are just buying it for what ever the going rate is, then spending it right away.  I don't think the value of bitcoin can drop more than a few dollars as long as Silk Road exists.  If it gets shut down soon, the value of a bitcoin will probably crash.  If it gets shut down far enough in the future that the bitcoin economy has expanded the value might not drop a lot.

The wait to get verified at Mt.Gox is getting longer and longer.  There is more demand for bitcoin everyday.

[Monster Tent]

The last ATH was stopped when Mt Gox got hacked. It might take something like that to destroy confidence again.

[notme]

The last ATH was stopped when Mt Gox got hacked. It might take something like that to destroy confidence again.

Give it time... over exuberance will lead to mistakes.  There are plenty of new, large bitcoin holders who haven't had their hacking cherry popped yet.  Hint: keeping a wallet anywhere near a web server is not a good idea.

[aznmonky]

Think of bitcoin as a tech stock like google or apple etc in its infancy, then its not so amazing when it is priced at $34 and climbing.

A stocks value is based on the value of a company, its earnings, and the dividends that are paid to shareholders. 

I think the reason bitcoins are rising are the speculators buying it as an investment.   But I think also The Silk Road is becoming much more popular.  Its the only thing that bitcoin is really needed for.  People buying bitcoins for the Silk Road aren't putting in a bid on Mtgox and waiting for it to go down to their buy price, they are just buying it for what ever the going rate is, then spending it right away.  I don't think the value of bitcoin can drop more than a few dollars as long as Silk Road exists.  If it gets shut down soon, the value of a bitcoin will probably crash.  If it gets shut down far enough in the future that the bitcoin economy has expanded the value might not drop a lot.

The wait to get verified at Mt.Gox is getting longer and longer.  There is more demand for bitcoin everyday.

this is very true the main audience of moving is the dark side while the big players are investors

[smoothie]

i realize news of the bitcoin atm and start up from silicon valley probably boosted speculation and confidence but what the hell?

translation: "wah I wanna buy bitcoins at $20"

[aznmonky]

no i am merely trying to get a better grasp on the value since in my period of familiarization is has spiked and swinged

[Peter Lambert]

The last ATH was stopped when Mt Gox got hacked. It might take something like that to destroy confidence again.

No, the last ATH was a spike that had already receded 30% before the MtGox hack happened.

OP: you should probably get used to expressing price changes in percentages. A swing of $3 is less than 10% now, the history of bitcoin has been filled with many jumps and dips bigger than that. It is just part of having a volatile free market still in price discovery mode. As bitcoin grows, gets used more places by more people, the price will become more stable.

[aznmonky]

so in theory would you say our <25 days are over?