gheom eo g qoijknqzpmaqj .w.

[just_me]

ikamo maei jnm kmgajhiou7

[Hfleer]

I'm wondering why  fiat is still fetching so high a price.  Bitcoin is undervalued.

[hopelessinvestor]

People are realizing the potential of bitcoins as a leading world currency. So they are trying to acquire as much of it as possible before it becomes mainstream. Mainstream acceptance will throw it into the tens of thousands. just imagine, 6.9 billion people sharing less coins than the population of Madagascar. Doesn't take a genius to see the potential.

[BitChick]

All I can do is post from my own experience.  We first decided to buy BTC in March.  It was right before the meteoric rise.  We got in at $48.  Then within a week it went up to $90.  My husband and I regretted not putting in more money.  We only bought about 8 BTC, unfortunately. We were just getting our feet wet.  We decided we needed to invest more.  So we bought at $90, then a very large amount at $120 and our last purchase was at about $145.  We then sat on them while the wave went up and up then crashed down.  We did not have much liquidity, or money we could risk when it crashed so we only bought a few more around $80.  That said, why did we keep buying as it went up?  Because BTC is deflationary.  It will continue to go up.  How high and how quickly is the real question and how many crashes will we have along the way?  That I don't know either.  I wanted to try and day trade but my husband thinks long term it is better to just buy and hold.  There is less risk to get burned that way.  Anyways, when it started to jump so fast we knew that we would not have the buying power to pick up as much coin later if we waited, if the prices continued to rise so we decided to go "all in" so to speak.   Maybe others feel the same way?  If BTC really is going to become mainstream we are still VERY early in this game and the prices will grow very high.

[nbartlett]

The runup in the price has not "already occurred". It's got a long way to go, though admittedly there will probably be more bubbles and crashes on the way up.

I don't think it's big money investors driving the price at this stage. It's ordinary geeks with some spare cash to invest. Now, when the big investors DO start to pile in... :-)

[Anon136]

That said, why did we keep buying as it went up?  Because BTC is deflationary.  It will continue to go up.  

or all the way down to 0. but yea definitely one of those two things! one thing it certainly isnt going to do is languish around a give price for long periods of time =P

also your husband is smart, dont try to be a pro trader unless you actually are a pro trader. hint: you probably aren't

[geopolisch]

All economy is basically bubble-based nowadays.

Many of the things we purchase, we do not need them, and we purchase them for:

- enjoyment
- status display
- investment

In the third case, for an investment to be profitable you just need to suppose (correctly) that in the future your value will be in higher demand than now.

One positive aspect of bitcoin is that it cannot be produced thus the amount of bitcoins on the market basically depends just on time. Only this makes it possibly attractive to investors.

That said, as with any other inversion, and more in the case of nothing of use right out of it, it will be subject to strong variance in appreciation.

But, if you think in fiat currency, it is mostly the same. Ever heard of Argentina, Brazil, Cyprus, etc.?

G.

[XXthetimeisnowXX]

http://www.bitcoinnews.com/

the comercial world we live in is about to start using Bitcoin, the finite amount of this will lead for further growth.

its been said befor but if 1% of all the worlds wealth went into bitcoins ..... just 1% then each B would be worth 10,000. each.

[just_me]

jejom,eo w mwopa mpapapapapapam mmeeme

[3gghead]

I am new here. I don't really see why bitcoin went up so much recently. I have been reading but I don't get it. I also noticed there is currently 11,000,000 or so outstanding bitcoins, and yet, very few are being sold, even though the price of bitcoins went up recently very drastically. This does not make sense to me, for so many people with 11,000,000 bitcoins, to just sit and watch after the price went up so much. What are they waiting for? It seems to me, that the runup in the price has already occurred. Why aren't they selling? It seems to be a strange marketplace, from my own experiences elsewhere. Normally, if the price goes up, they jump all over it and take all the profits as quick as they can. Where did all these big money investors come from, that are willing to pay $100 or $200 for one bitcoin?
As far as I can tell, the price in bitcoins has gone up on light volome, in comparison to the 11,000,000 bitcoins out there, and as such, normally there should be a large market correction, back down again. I am not meaning to be pessimistic. But what is propping up the price for so long?

Market manipulation?  Maybe electric companies saw a noticeable drop-off when gpu miners shut down when it was costing much more to mine than gpus could earn.  So they hire and fund a firm to get gpu miners back on the meter.

Accidental?  Someone's trading bot's algorithm is off by a decimal point causing chaos at the exchange.  It's happened more than once on wall street..

Supply < Demand?  People notice the market value trending higher so they place an order to sell at some ridiculously high asking price relative to the current market.  Then a large buy order engulfs all the sell orders and suddenly the market value soars to the formerly ridiculously high asking price.

Or one of many other reasons.

[palo]

printing money! the more they print the more everything is. Things of value will cost more and more. The gulf between price and value has become an uncrossable ocean.

[Acrylo]

I realize there was this initial spike, but am I mistaken in thinking there will be a long-term net rise that's even larger if / as the currency gains support?

[nbartlett]

I don't know much about currencies and such.
Ok, thank you, I quoted some of the answers, and commented a bit below:

1- Bitcoin is undervalued?

Yep

2- Anxiety over getting burnt if the bitcoins are at the exchange? Exchanges are too unstable then? People don't trust their bitcoins at the exchanges?
"I wanted to try and day trade but my husband thinks long term it is better to just buy and hold.  There is less risk to get burned that way."

I think they were concerned about getting burned by price fluctuations. Most amateur daytraders do indeed get burned.

3- People are realizing the potential of bitcoins as a leading world currency.

4- "The runup in the price has not "already occurred".." But it just went up to 260 from about 30 didn't it? that is almost 9 x what it was before. That is a big price increase of 9x in a short period of time. But you think it will go higher, so you hold? Have you ever done that with a stock you own, and watch it go up, and then watch it come back down again? I mean, what is the point? I thought people were trying to make some money? I guess different people invest in different ways. I am new at this so I don't know.

Bitcoin is not a stock.

I can't help but wonder if bitcoin may be mainly popular amongst money traders or students, and the mainstream population currently is not really all that interested in a currency with 8 decimal places, and most would find this confusing. Currently I think it is a fairly limited market, but it is a niche, but not mainstream. How big is this niche though? I suppose the price might go up substantially based on people hoping or speculating.

Seriously, you think people won't use bitcoin because of... decimal places??

How come Cyprus has anything to do with bitcoins at all? I mean, maybe some people in cyprus, but a minority, are even aware of bitcoin(correct me if I am wrong), and most people know nothing of bitcoins.

"the comercial world we live in is about to start using Bitcoin"

Thank you for your answers. I am trying to understand better.

Right, most people haven't heard of bitcoins (although it's been in a lot of mainstream press recently), but who cares? Cyprus showed that an EU government is willing to confiscate funds and impose capital controls, which sets a precedent for the entire EU. Fiat cash can be confiscated... gold can be confiscated... Bitcoin can't.

More interesting than that though: it's simply the easiest, cheapest and most efficient way to pay somebody -- especially people in other countries. That's where its value comes from.

[jruben4]

Supply and demand?

[jamieccc]

Right, no banks sucking away our hard earned in transaction fees!

[Gator-hex]

Venture capitalists realize there are 8 decimal places to a Bitcoin

that means there are 2.1 Quadrillion coin units

and for those not so bright at math..

when 1 unit (Satoshi) = 1cent then 1BTC = $1,000,000.00

[JoeJacksonJr]

well lets see Paypal said they would consider using it

so did Western Union

The dude from Shark Tank said he might too

etc

That's why

[muddhari1]

That is making a boom these days

[hopelessinvestor]

I am new here. I don't really see why bitcoin went up so much recently. I have been reading but I don't get it. I also noticed there is currently 11,000,000 or so outstanding bitcoins, and yet, very few are being sold, even though the price of bitcoins went up recently very drastically. This does not make sense to me, for so many people with 11,000,000 bitcoins, to just sit and watch after the price went up so much. What are they waiting for? It seems to me, that the runup in the price has already occurred. Why aren't they selling? It seems to be a strange marketplace, from my own experiences elsewhere. Normally, if the price goes up, they jump all over it and take all the profits as quick as they can. Where did all these big money investors come from, that are willing to pay $100 or $200 for one bitcoin?
As far as I can tell, the price in bitcoins has gone up on light volome, in comparison to the 11,000,000 bitcoins out there, and as such, normally there should be a large market correction, back down again. I am not meaning to be pessimistic. But what is propping up the price for so long?

Market manipulation?  Maybe electric companies saw a noticeable drop-off when gpu miners shut down when it was costing much more to mine than gpus could earn.  So they hire and fund a firm to get gpu miners back on the meter.

Accidental?  Someone's trading bot's algorithm is off by a decimal point causing chaos at the exchange.  It's happened more than once on wall street..

Supply < Demand?  People notice the market value trending higher so they place an order to sell at some ridiculously high asking price relative to the current market.  Then a large buy order engulfs all the sell orders and suddenly the market value soars to the formerly ridiculously high asking price.

Or one of many other reasons.

Off by one decimal point. Haha, me and my cousin used to joke about this in our programming classes. Oh no big deal, it was just off by a decimal point. HAHA.

[dcore]

I remember not too long ago when a single bitcoin was only about $3... Oh how I wish I would have bought in back then.