[2017-03-23]Who's Buying Bitcoin? Demand Persists Amid Fork Fears

[haoxihata]

In spite of speculation the bitcoin network could split into two separate blockchains, demand for the digital currency continued to remain strong during today's trading session.

The digital currency has mostly been trading north of $1,000 today, dipping below but rebounding shortly after, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). Further, volumes at two of the world's largest exchanges, Bitfinex and Kraken, were robust, with figures charting higher than the 30-day average.

Yet, given the possibility that the network could see significant turbulence in the event of technical schism, some market observers were left openly wondering why bitcoin prices were still high.

At the time of report, bitcoin was trading at $1,005.29, 20% below its all-time high, but up 142% year-over-year.

So, who's purchasing the digital currency and propping up its price? Some analysts were left stumped.

Jacob Eliosoff, a cryptocurrency fund manager, told CoinDesk:

"All we can say for sure is that someone is buying to keep the price as high as it is."

Possible variables

As for what has been fueling bitcoin's sustained demand, other market analysts offered varying explanations, most of which revolved around speculation and uncertainty.

Some traders may be trying to buy the dip, as bitcoin prices have fallen, and observers reasoned this means there's the possibility of gain.

Charles Hayter, founder and CEO of exchange service CryptoCompare, told CoinDesk that while traders are "skittish", there will always be people "trying to catch the bottom" when prices decline.

Petar Zivkovski, COO of leveraged cryptocurrency trading platform Whaleclub, provided similar sentiment.

"Most of the buying going on is speculative, as far as we can tell, going after short-term profits, opening and closing trades within a day to minimize exposure on this uncertain market environment," he said.

Harry Yeh, managing partner of investment manager Binary Financial, suggested short sellers may be playing a key role in keeping bitcoin prices at their current level.

"Lots of people were short, and they have been covering their shorts (ie buying)," he speculated.

Others, he said, might simply be caught on the wrong side of what could be an impending correction.

He told CoinDesk

"This recent bounce is a dead cat bounce, and it's a bull trap."
link:http://www.coindesk.com/whos-buying-bitcoin-demand-persists-amid-fork-fears/

[1713581526]

1713581526

[1713581526]

1713581526

[odolvlobo]

I'm buying bitcoins as fast as I can.

"Buy when there's blood in the streets"

[Iranus]

A lot of people on the forum are pretty optimistic about Bitcoin's prospects.  There's always the possibility of a HF but we know that Bitcoin is always volatile and that it'll go up again.  The panic selling from some people is an opportunity for people who are prepared.

I think that a lot of whales are buying as well, because I'm not sure how many more knowledgeable people actually believe that the fork is going to happen or that if it did happen, Bitcoin would fail too badly.

[veleten]

many are doing shorting trades,so it doesn't mean they are buying to hold
if the trend is down the amount of coins you can make is amazing and you do not have to worry about forks news
as they are working for you,creating panic and driving the price down
there are many others who are investing long term and buying to hold,for them the lower the price at the moment the better
the only problem is if the market collapses altogether ,but for that we would have to touch 500-600$ and it is not going to happen any time soon
at least I hope so

[jamsproject]

I'm still planning to buy small amounts of BTC via Paxful.
And yes, the HF can lower the prices and for that, I'm readying my money.

If you're like me that buys monthly then HODLs. Then I suggest you stay calm
and enjoy the ride.

[kevinn669]

I'm still planning to buy small amounts of BTC via Paxful.
And yes, the HF can lower the prices and for that, I'm readying my money.

If you're like me that buys monthly then HODLs. Then I suggest you stay calm
and enjoy the ride.

I buy every month. And I plan to keep coins for a long time. The more popularity bitcoin grows, the more people buy bitcoin. Many experienced investors, as well as me, do not care about the temporary price volatility.

[Kemarit]

I think the Japanese market is still buying but I not the rate when it first started back in April were there are like 100$ swing per day. Another I can think of is still the casual investors like us who still believed that bitcoin than go up and go further up to the end of the year. And there are whalers and bag holders who are seeing bitcoin as the new safe haven for their investment. They are accumulating huge amount and stashing it in the wallet and don't care if the price dip because they are putting it a store of value. We will just have to wait and see till Aug. 1 what the price of bitcoin would be.

[White sugar]

Better buy when the price is falling than when the price is on the rise for more than 1 month.

[coolcoinz]

What fork fears? We are still far from accepting any network upgrade and if it comes nothing bad will happen. We'll have an upgrade that many altcoins already had and went through. After a fork you don't lose any money, you get your money in both chains and both will have value. Once people decide one of them is better and worth pursuing that one will gain value while the other may start losing it. May meaning that both chains can be gaining value if people decide so.

[jamsproject]

The fork will come but rather than hesitating to buy, I buy mine monthly.
Small amounts through P2P marketplaces like Paxful until I get to 1 whole BTC.
Slowly but surely.

Nothing good will come from worrying. Just buy and hope for the best 

[Siren]

The fork will come but rather than hesitating to buy, I buy mine monthly.
Small amounts through P2P marketplaces like Paxful until I get to 1 whole BTC.
Slowly but surely.

Nothing good will come from worrying. Just buy and hope for the best 

LOL. I like your attitude mate. That's true optimism when it comes to bitcoin price. Well know that the price is purely speculative but what the hell. I'm also stashing some bitcoin as I can and buying if I have extra money in my wallet. Just like you said, hope for best in the future.

[CryptoBry]

Market can be influenced by fear, hype and even lies but this time around for Bitcoin it seems to me that the current price has already discounted the coming August 1 event. The feeling is that there would eventually be no split and that things can be better...much much better that am predicting after August 1 we can dramatically (though still slowly) see Bitcoin rising.

[Zicadis]

Fork Fears are really out of the picture because if that was the case we would have seen a slump in price but fortunately, that's not the case!
I honestly think demand as suddenly risen as a result of the proposed segwit2x which has a possibility of improved transaction tranfers and possibly reduced transaction fees.

[jamsproject]

Fork Fears are really out of the picture because if that was the case we would have seen a slump in price but fortunately, that's not the case!
I honestly think demand as suddenly risen as a result of the proposed segwit2x which has a possibility of improved transaction tranfers and possibly reduced transaction fees.

Just bought .03 BTC again today at Paxful.
It's a leap of faith I guess.

I haven't read the news about segwit but It's good that people are being due to this.

The fork will come but rather than hesitating to buy, I buy mine monthly.
Small amounts through P2P marketplaces like Paxful until I get to 1 whole BTC.
Slowly but surely.

Nothing good will come from worrying. Just buy and hope for the best 

LOL. I like your attitude mate. That's true optimism when it comes to bitcoin price. Well know that the price is purely speculative but what the hell. I'm also stashing some bitcoin as I can and buying if I have extra money in my wallet. Just like you said, hope for best in the future.

I have feared before and failed to purchase BTC but this time around,  No fear man.
This is kinda turning into a religion-ish faith, I know lol