Why did bitcoin go down?

[Impaler]

You know if you look back at the history of ALL the large crashes in BTC, they are all associated with a speculative bubble which is popped by some kind of service-interruption at Mt.Gox.  To my knowledge this is the 3rd, the first was Nov 2010, the second July 2012 and now the third is April 2013.  This seems to be following a pattern of occurring every 8 months.  Which shows that the community has an appallingly short memory.

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[MatTheCat]

You know if you look back at the history of ALL the large crashes in BTC, they are all associated with a speculative bubble which is popped by some kind of service-interruption at Mt.Gox.  To my knowledge this is the 3rd, the first was Nov 2010, the second July 2012 and now the third is April 2013.  This seems to be following a pattern of occurring every 8 months.  Which shows that the community has an appallingly short memory.

Which is much better than having an appallingly scrambled memory, as I only recall there ever being a major crash back in July/June 2011, and of course now April 2013. There was certainly no crash throughout 2012, as I waited through most of the latter part of it for a correction that I felt would come, but never did.

[Geddi]

Because a butterfly flapped it's wings in Hawaii.

Now if only the darn thing wasn't facing south this wouldn't have happened..

[Impaler]

Which is much better than having an appallingly scrambled memory, as I only recall there ever being a major crash back in July/June 2011, and of course now April 2013. There was certainly no crash throughout 2012, as I waited through most of the latter part of it for a correction that I felt would come, but never did.

You need only go back and look at Mt.Gox history to see the bubble an crash in Nov 2010, it something like 10 cents up to 50 then back down to 20, it also ran for a shorter timer period, just a week from start to finish.  In absolute terms a small thing but proportionally its was as large as the other more recent bubbles.

[MatTheCat]

Which is much better than having an appallingly scrambled memory, as I only recall there ever being a major crash back in July/June 2011, and of course now April 2013. There was certainly no crash throughout 2012, as I waited through most of the latter part of it for a correction that I felt would come, but never did.

You need only go back and look at Mt.Gox history to see the bubble an crash in Nov 2010, it something like 10 cents up to 50 then back down to 20, it also ran for a shorter timer period, just a week from start to finish.  In absolute terms a small thing but proportionally its was as large as the other more recent bubbles.

I have never been a Bitcoin investor but I have been a Bitcoin buyer and spender right throughout the period that you state and cant remember anything like what you state, which pretty much means it was just a glitch in the system as opposed to being triggered by either mass buying or mass selling. Bitcoin only really costs 50c or $500, if enough sellers or buyers are accepting those prices. I could go on an exchange with a handful of Bitcoins. I could put in an offer for 50c, and put in a ask for 50c. Therefore, for a brief moment, Bitcoins would be worth 50c. I could do the same in the other direction as well.

[viboracecata]

Not just price correction, but also the average for per man.

[Larynth]

You know if you look back at the history of ALL the large crashes in BTC, they are all associated with a speculative bubble which is popped by some kind of service-interruption at Mt.Gox.  To my knowledge this is the 3rd, the first was Nov 2010, the second July 2012 and now the third is April 2013.  This seems to be following a pattern of occurring every 8 months.  Which shows that the community has an appallingly short memory.

By definition if a failure in infrastructure causes a panic, it's a panic, not a bubble. Speculative bubbles pop when they reach a point on the supply and demand curves that is unsustainable usually when supply is choked off for some reason. When an external force like a major selloff is the main cause it's a correction, not a bubble. This was nearly criminal negligence at best and intentional fleecing of the flock at the worst by MtGox. I say it's possibly intentional because if their intent was to provide a reliable service they could have added stop-loss orders even if they couldn't fix their server lag issues. The only real reason not to protect your clients with a stop-loss is if you intend to use or allow someone else to use the panic to clean up.

[alexh]

Ddos and selloff, but it is far from the end.