Where can I SHORT BTC?

[bitcola]

Anyone know where I can short BTC?

It's not really trading if you can't short something. It's more like investing.

Does anyone offer the ability to short it yet?


If not, then some of the early adopters sitting on a mountain of BTC really need to think about offering a loan service on their BTC to facilitate short selling. They'd profit from it and it would be good for the currency.

[1715095752]

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[Grant]

bitoption.org

[bitcola]

Thanks. It's a shame that there is practically zero liquidity there though...

[5grainsilver]

And the asks are ridiculously high.

[FractalUniverse]

Anyone know where I can short BTC?

It's not really trading if you can't short something. It's more like investing.

Does anyone offer the ability to short it yet?


If not, then some of the early adopters sitting on a mountain of BTC really need to think about offering a loan service on their BTC to facilitate short selling. They'd profit from it and it would be good for the currency.

short?

there is still no leverage available yet so,.

you buy bitconis for say ..100$ = you are long BTC/USD, if btc value rises 10% you make 110$ (excluding commisions and spread)
you sell amount of bitcoins worth 100$ = you are BTC/USD short, if btc starts drops 10%, you can buy back 10% more of them

isn't it the same thing ? or am i wrong?

[Grant]

short?

there is still no leverage available yet so,.

you buy bitconis for say ..100$ = you are long BTC/USD, if btc value rises 10% you make 110$ (excluding commisions and spread)
you sell amount of bitcoins worth 100$ = you are BTC/USD short, if btc starts drops 10%, you can buy back 10% more of them

isn't it the same thing ? or am i wrong?

Wrong.

You place a bid for a OTM put at bitoption.org and you get leveraged exposure to selling bitcoin short (if someone sells to you), otherwise you short a bunch of long term calls and you get similar effect.

[FractalUniverse]

Wrong.

You place a bid for a OTM put at bitoption.org and you get leveraged exposure to selling bitcoin short (if someone sells to you), otherwise you short a bunch of long term calls and you get similar effect.

i have no experience with options trading-so ok you can get leverage there,

but isn't (having account in usd) buying btc actualy taking long position BTCUSD, and holding $ with intention to buy BTC later the same thing as actualy being short btc?? im confused now

[byronbb]

Wrong.

You place a bid for a OTM put at bitoption.org and you get leveraged exposure to selling bitcoin short (if someone sells to you), otherwise you short a bunch of long term calls and you get similar effect.

i have no experience with options trading-so ok you can get leverage there,

but isn't (having account in usd) buying btc actualy taking long position BTCUSD, and holding $ with intention to buy BTC later the same thing as actualy being short btc?? im confused now

going short is borrowing BTC then paying back in the future.

[Vinnie]

Try #bitcoin-otc. A very reputable trader there lends BTC for exactly this purpose.

[killerstorm]

I'm making a futures trading site where you can bet on price of bitcoins using bitcoins.

It is not same thing as shorting, but you can bet on price of bitcoins getting down.

Here's a beta version for testing: http://killerstorm.xen.prgmr.com:31337/st/main.html
I strongly recommend depositing no more than few bitcents because there are no withdrawals yet, it is only . (Or, rather, you need to ask me on forum to withdraw your money.)

Here's a detailed information: http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=14059.0

But if you're just interested in shorting, here's how it can work: let's say that current price at exchange is $15 USD for bitcoin but you think it will drop below $5 in a week.

Then you just need to make a futures contract to sell at price higher than $5 in a week. The higher the price the more profit you make, but also chances are lower that somebody will take it. So, for example, you make a contract to sell 1BTC at $10 in a week.

Size of the bet is limited by reserve requirements. It is common to reserve 50%, e.g. you need 0.5 BTC to enter contract for 1 BTC, then you loss is limited to this 0.5 BTC and so is your profit.

Then if price drops below $6.67/BTC you double your bet, winning 0.5 BTC.

If price goes higher than $20/BTC you lose your bet of 0.05 BTC.

If it is in range 6.67-10 then you make some profit, if it is in range 10-20 then you make some loss, if it is exactly $10 then you're flat.

[Chucksta]

This site looks promising http://testnet.campbx.com

Only a test site for now, but probably worth keeping an eye on.