why has bitcoin been crashing?

[Peter Lambert]

why has bitcoin been crashing?

Because the majority who buy it don't use it as currency.  They are speculating with something virtual and like to believe it is more valuable than gold or paper.  Thus since it is all speculation and the price is way overvalued, the price must come down.   I mean at least the Germans could wallpaper their house when their money became useless.  If the tiny market of goods traded via BTC crashes all you have is unneeded ones and zeros you will erase.  I love bitcoin but it has not been widespread adopted, only goes up on speculation, and will probably be overpriced until some of these wonderful news stories actually become reality.

Or maybe it is just the cyclic nature of using bitcoins: A bunch of people buy some bitcoins, which pushes the price up, they then go buy stuff with the bitcoins, the merchants then sell the bitcoins which pushes the price down again.

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[Wuji]

Rephrase your statement and it is correct. The majority of PEOPLE who buy it DO use it as currency. The majority of BITCOINS are not used as currency, rather, they are saved (or as the occupy wall st. bears like to say, "hoarded.")

I'm sorry I'm not responding to all this as I have money to make.  The point is "using as currency" means buying and spending for goods and services and not coins trading for USD (one currency for another).   Saving your money in the form of currency is cash reserve.  I don't know how to explain it much simpler to you.

How much USD is used to buy and trade goods each day versus how much is being saved (or merely traded for the sake of speculation, commodity not currency)?

How much BTC is used to buy and trade goods each day versus how much is being saved (or merely traded for the sake of speculation, commodity not currency)?

When you have a slight clue to the answers to these questions I bet a light bulb will suddenly go off over your head.

[bitcoincraps]

Any spike is followed by a correction, on any market not just bitcoin.  If the correction is bigger than expected,  some scarry sellers will transform the correction into a crash. Conclusion : any crush begins with a small correction...

[adamstgBit]

Any spike is followed by a correction, on any market not just bitcoin.  If the correction is bigger than expected,  some scarry sellers will transform the correction into a crash. Conclusion : any crush begins with a small correction...

sure

but if you look at the volume it took to do the small correction, you can safely say, it was a correction in the wrong direction...

[Wuji]

Your statement that most "People" with bitcoins don't use it as currency, only as speculation.

Forbes analysis showed Silk Road did $22 Million selling 10,000 drugs.  Marijuana last year in the US was a $6 Billion trade for one drug.

You are the one postulating Bitcoin is a highly used currency (and not simply just a speculation commodity) so you offer us the evidence.  Where is this exchange of goods and services happening and what are the dollar figures?

If the onus was on me to prove my point on speculation I think the volumes of buys and sells on MtFux is good evidence.  I doubt those $100k trades I see are people buying houses or converting their home sales to cash.  Show me your facts.

[nkspace]

i like that WUJIwuji BIG PLUS ONE

[wrenchmonkey]

Your statement that most "People" with bitcoins don't use it as currency, only as speculation.

Forbes analysis showed Silk Road did $22 Million selling 10,000 drugs.  Marijuana last year in the US was a $6 Billion trade for one drug.

You are the one postulating Bitcoin is a highly used currency (and not simply just a speculation commodity) so you offer us the evidence.  Where is this exchange of goods and services happening and what are the dollar figures?

If the onus was on me to prove my point on speculation I think the volumes of buys and sells on MtFux is good evidence.  I doubt those $100k trades I see are people buying houses or converting their home sales to cash.  Show me your facts.

You don't think that very large buys/sells of bitcoin could be people moving their funds in a less traceable manner. Perhaps a few cypriots getting TFO of a falling airplane, and then getting back into the market with a more stable currency? That's not speculation, that's using a currency.

And again, your statement was that most people using bitcoin are speculating. But your argument only supports the idea that most bitcoin is being used for speculation. Those are two VERY different ideas, which is what Ashley was pointing out.

Most bitcoin users ALSO use it as a currency. However, most bitcoins are not necessarily being used as a currency.

Words matter.

[Peter Lambert]

Your statement that most "People" with bitcoins don't use it as currency, only as speculation.

Forbes analysis showed Silk Road did $22 Million selling 10,000 drugs.  Marijuana last year in the US was a $6 Billion trade for one drug.

You are the one postulating Bitcoin is a highly used currency (and not simply just a speculation commodity) so you offer us the evidence.  Where is this exchange of goods and services happening and what are the dollar figures?

If the onus was on me to prove my point on speculation I think the volumes of buys and sells on MtFux is good evidence.  I doubt those $100k trades I see are people buying houses or converting their home sales to cash.  Show me your facts.

I have used bitcoins to buy and sell things, mostly shares in companies (at places like btct.co and bitfunder.com). Do you have any proof that most people only hold bitcoins as a speculative asset? Look at how many transactions are in every block, clearly people are using bitcoins. If nobody used them for anything but speculation, then they would all just sit at MtGox and nothing would be on the blockchain.

[Brushan]

It's funny how people want everybody to use bitcoins in the way THEY see fit. It's a free market. Bitcoin is not a currency, nor is it a store of value, nor a payment processor. It has the properties of all of the above. Bitcoin is just Bitcoin. We have never seen anything like it before so let the free market decide how it's best used and calm down.

[nkspace]

Well no thats not true...... as most people aren't daft to leave their bitcoins in the exchange, so you would see new blocks, furthermore some ventures cause alot of blocks created such as satoshi dice, cut the bollocks already, if bitcoin was to be coded to be non volatile by the algorithm being changed and linking to be a constant value against the fiat with slight 0.5 % yearly deflation, would people use it ?? NO

[wrenchmonkey]

Why would they use it over the already established (and way less hassle) fiat currency? The whole draw of bitcoin is that it's NOT tied to fiat currencies that can be manipulated through inflation.

If you're looking for a payment method that's tied to fiat currency, use Paypal.