Forex broker plus500 has opened for Bitcoin trading.

[jomay]

And they take the other side of the bet in case there is no other customer taking the opposite bet, correct?

Do they hedge against the market going the wrong way somehow if things become too unbalanced in their books?

I'd really like to know how such a shop works. Is it like satoshidice?

Last time I interviewed with one of the CFD brokers (which is a while back) they had human traders that would run a book. The trader would decide if the book should be rather long or short and profit from that.

In essence, they do the same thing as you guys trading bitcoins - but they try to make the 1% spread as well. They just need to "convince" people (by moving the price) to buy/sell them at the wrong time. The 20%/year financing fee is just the icing on top. Financing is usually free intraday...

You pay 113.79 and can sell at 112.76. I wonder how this is going to work out for them as most of the people I have talked to have bought through them, not going to be easy for them to keep a balanced book.

Ah, I was wondering how they manage to offer shorts on BTC. Now I know!
(FYI: they can simply loan the customers BTC to the shorters. Smart move by them. Building up the BTC position is a one time thing.)

The real question is: what happens if everybody wants to short BTC on Plus500???

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[Bakemono]

Is there a catch in the 25 euros bonus with no deposit requirement?

[Raoul Duke]

Is there a catch in the 25 euros bonus with no deposit requirement?

You need to identify yourself and receive a letter from them with a verification code

[01BTC10]

You also need 60 traders points.

[BtcBling]

Be warned. They do their money with heavy advertising attracting newcomers with no idea about what they are doing while amazed about their trading "limits". Very sophisticated system eats your money very easily.

[Grinder]

Where do you see a daily fee? Premium time?

Yes. http://www.plus500.com/Help/HelpFees.aspx#nightpremuim

[molecular]

And they take the other side of the bet in case there is no other customer taking the opposite bet, correct?

Do they hedge against the market going the wrong way somehow if things become too unbalanced in their books?

I'd really like to know how such a shop works. Is it like satoshidice?

Last time I interviewed with one of the CFD brokers (which is a while back) they had human traders that would run a book. The trader would decide if the book should be rather long or short and profit from that.

In essence, they do the same thing as you guys trading bitcoins - but they try to make the 1% spread as well. They just need to "convince" people (by moving the price) to buy/sell them at the wrong time. The 20%/year financing fee is just the icing on top. Financing is usually free intraday...

You pay 113.79 and can sell at 112.76. I wonder how this is going to work out for them as most of the people I have talked to have bought through them, not going to be easy for them to keep a balanced book.

Ah, I was wondering how they manage to offer shorts on BTC. Now I know!
(FYI: they can simply loan the customers BTC to the shorters. Smart move by them. Building up the BTC position is a one time thing.)

The real question is: what happens if everybody wants to short BTC on Plus500???

hm? as I understand it there are no BTC involved at all. No BTC are borrowed or sold on mtgox. It's just CFD (contract for difference), basically a betting site.

[molecular]

Is there a catch in the 25 euros bonus with no deposit requirement?

you have to register personal details and phone number verification is mandatory.

[naphto]

Is there a catch in the 25 euros bonus with no deposit requirement?

you have to register personal details and phone number verification is mandatory.

You also have to trade that amount of money in order to allow the broker to win effectively more than the 25 euros they gave you in order to be able to withdraw it, which is unlikely that anyone is able to withdraw it without making a deposit or being lucky.

[jomay]

Ah, I was wondering how they manage to offer shorts on BTC. Now I know!
(FYI: they can simply loan the customers BTC to the shorters. Smart move by them. Building up the BTC position is a one time thing.)

The real question is: what happens if everybody wants to short BTC on Plus500???

hm? as I understand it there are no BTC involved at all. No BTC are borrowed or sold on mtgox. It's just CFD (contract for difference), basically a betting site.

I don't think you truly understand how CFDs are synthesized. What do you think happens when you buy a FTSE or S&P CFD?

They need to hedge at least the net position of their clients - or they are betting against their clients position. For example if Plus500 has many long term investors holding BTC in their account they EITHER need to buy BTC in the same amount to hedge themselves OR they are betting that BTC is dropping in value.

Or they post complete fake prices, and I'm sure they cannot do this.

[molecular]

Ah, I was wondering how they manage to offer shorts on BTC. Now I know!
(FYI: they can simply loan the customers BTC to the shorters. Smart move by them. Building up the BTC position is a one time thing.)

The real question is: what happens if everybody wants to short BTC on Plus500???

hm? as I understand it there are no BTC involved at all. No BTC are borrowed or sold on mtgox. It's just CFD (contract for difference), basically a betting site.

I don't think you truly understand how CFDs are synthesized. What do you think happens when you buy a FTSE or S&P CFD?

They need to hedge at least the net position of their clients - or they are betting against their clients position. For example if Plus500 has many long term investors holding BTC in their account they EITHER need to buy BTC in the same amount to hedge themselves OR they are betting that BTC is dropping in value.

Or they post complete fake prices, and I'm sure they cannot do this.

I admit lack of knowledge in this area. That's why I had been asking. After reading a book called "reminiscences of a stock operator" and the descriptions of "bucket shops" therein, I got the impression these shops would not hedge at all but simply take the opposite side of their customers bets. If so, they indeed "work like satoshi dice", who also take the opposite side of their customers bets and still make money in the long run off of fees (in bucket shop case this is the spread an other fees).

I doubt they post fake prices... too easy to verify (they say it's based on mtGox market), but I also doubt they hedge on gox for some reason.

In the case they do hedge, they better have some BTC ready to sell in case cumulative position of customers is short, right?

[monsterer]

Just for anyone who doesn't know - 'trading bitcoin' on this broker is no different than trading any other forex symbol. You'll never own the bitcoin you buy and sell and it will be impossible to withdraw it.

You'll only ever be trading on a simulated market - the data-feed is from MtGox (the real marketplace) but your orders will likely never arrive there, the broker will chose which orders to submit and which orders to trade 'in-house' as a market-maker.

You might as well just sign up with a reputable, well known forex broker and trade the forex symbol of your choosing.

Cheers, Paul.

[01BTC10]

I've been searching for another FOREX broker offering Bitcoin market trading but didn't find any.

[Taxidermista]

Here is another broker:
http://www.igindex.co.uk/spread-betting/bitcoin-binary-bets.html

Bitcoin in binaries! I think that's a first.

[capoeira]

why does this broker block access from Brazil?

[Seth Otterstad]

They block access from a whole bunch of "high risk" countries.

[capoeira]

They block access from a whole bunch of "high risk" countries.

what's the risk for them?

[Seth Otterstad]

Gaming the signup bonuses.

[spndr7]

Plus500 got listed on London stock exchange.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/companies-and-advisors/news-events/welcome/plus500.htm

[capoeira]

Plus500 got listed on London stock exchange.

http://www.londonstockexchange.com/companies-and-advisors/news-events/welcome/plus500.htm

suckssss

I wanna use it, but i can't