[OFFICIAL]Bitfinex.com first Bitcoin P2P lending platform for leverage trading

[bjornw]

Don't shoot the messenger but the "BSI" as announced on bitfnex.com, is a bit off, now isn't it.....

<quote>
Bitfinex Sentiment Index

Our Bitfinex Sentiment Index allows you to see what the market of BTCUSD currently feels like, bullish or bearish. It is based on market participants sentiment about BTCUSD price.

BSI as of February 20, 2014 - 07:10:45 PM CET:
1:1 - Bullish
</quote>

[Sukrim]

Well, since there is no way to calculate it independently, it is what it is - and if it says 1:1, that's what it says.

[bjornw]

Well, since there is no way to calculate it independently, it is what it is - and if it says 1:1, that's what it says.

sure, but If I ever saw a bearish market...

[bjornw]

Well, since there is no way to calculate it independently, it is what it is - and if it says 1:1, that's what it says.

sure, but If I ever saw a bearish market...

BFX BSI is always bullish. Always.

"It's going down? Really? Must be the ticker price or the market that's wrong" says the average BFX trader and buys more bitcoins.

All I can add here is this :

[Ente]

BFX BSI is always bullish. Always.

"It's going down? Really? Must be the ticker price or the market that's wrong" says the average BFX trader and buys more bitcoins.

Makes sense. Many, if not most, users use BitFinex to do margin trading. And most of them go long only for opening a position. This, by itself, makes the BSI bullish.
And, why not? Price goes down - buy into a position to profit. Price goes up - hang onto the train and open a long position! :-)

Ente

[halcyon]

what are lenders doing now with their funds? interest rates are bad nowadays for both $ and BTC 

[nmersulypnem]

what are lenders doing now with their funds? interest rates are bad nowadays for both $ and BTC  

"Bad" is relative.  You are still getting wildly high annualized interest rates compared to, say, a junk bond.

Still, there are a number of improvements to the system that could generate more income for everyone...

1.  The option for a lender to extend expiration.
2.  The option for a lender to lend at some fixed differential from the current flash rate.
3.  The option for a borrower to keep borrowed btc/usd while closing a position.
4.  The option for a borrower to partially borrowed usd/btc with a new swap.
5.  Reinstating 4:1 margin.
6.  Fixing the borrower margin limitation that is holding us to exactly tradeable balance on reduce position orders.
7.  Fixing the borrower margin limitation that is holding us to exactly tradeable balance on borrowing usd/btc to reduce positions.
8.  Minor annoyance:  When taking BTC liquidity, the tab reverts to the USD tab.
9.  Minor annoyance:  When sorting margin open orders by price, the auto-refresh re-sorts the page by open date (this one is a real pain during active trading).

In general, the lending facility needs a bit of an upgrade.  I've also noticed it to be buggy in that I've seen my positions exceed my total borrowed swaps, and I don't seem to be paying interest on positions when I reserve them, but only when I open a position with them (but who knows, because there is no swap interest accounting details, so it's impossible to reconcile fees).

I'm sure other people have other suggestions. 

[halcyon]

what are lenders doing now with their funds? interest rates are bad nowadays for both $ and BTC  

"Bad" is relative.  You are still getting wildly high annualized interest rates compared to, say, a junk bond.

1.  The option for a lender to extend expiration.
5.  Reinstating 4:1 margin.

ok you´re right, the returns are still good, but I may be biased due to the recent high rates 

these 2 seems like a no-brainer for me and I´m not sure why Giancarlo and Raphael don´t implement them.

The first feature is basically a few lines of code and I really can´t imagine any disadvantages of this feature.
(ok maybe they have more important tasks on their to-do list)

And a higher margin would really attract more traders and increase the volume on Bitfinex.
This also seems like a no-brainer for me, because more volume of course also generates more income for Bitfinex.
Therefore I´m not really sure why 4:1 margin is not reintroduced.

Or are there any disadvantages of a higher margin, which I´m not aware of?

[Sukrim]

Or are there any disadvantages of a higher margin, which I´m not aware of?

You are talking about higher leverage by the way, not higher margin...

Anyways, higher leverage means higher risk if large positions need to be closed. I am not so sure why they don't increase leverage (after all, you need market depth for that and to get that, you need more attractive options than 2.5:1 imho) but it's ont my business after all.

The feature I personally need (like, seriously need!) would be to get the information in the ledger section as CSV file download.

[urwhatuknow]

what are lenders doing now with their funds? interest rates are bad nowadays for both $ and BTC  

"Bad" is relative.  You are still getting wildly high annualized interest rates compared to, say, a junk bond.

1.  The option for a lender to extend expiration.
5.  Reinstating 4:1 margin.

ok you´re right, the returns are still good, but I may be biased due to the recent high rates  

these 2 seems like a no-brainer for me and I´m not sure why Giancarlo and Raphael don´t implement them.

The first feature is basically a few lines of code and I really can´t imagine any disadvantages of this feature.
(ok maybe they have more important tasks on their to-do list)

And a higher margin would really attract more traders and increase the volume on Bitfinex.
This also seems like a no-brainer for me, because more volume of course also generates more income for Bitfinex.
Therefore I´m not really sure why 4:1 margin is not reintroduced.

Or are there any disadvantages of a higher margin, which I´m not aware of?

1) CFD are short term contracts and there are limitations in the max amount of days ( 30 days max)
2) higher leverage means higher risks for the liquidity provider. Markets are too turbulent in this moment to allow this....

I hope this helps

Giancarlo
Bitfinex Team

[Lonechaos]

They already implemented an estimate. Why keep complaining...

[BitBits]

1) CFD are short term contracts and there are limitations in the max amount of days ( 30 days max)
2) higher leverage means higher risks for the liquidity provider. Markets are too turbulent in this moment to allow this....

I hope this helps

Giancarlo
Bitfinex Team

Giancarlo,
Reagrding item 1, those extensions could probably be made "extendable" up to the maximum of 30 days then (starting from the original date on which any given swap was taken) and probably with the minimum extension of 2 days, which is a "standard" lending minimum. In general, this feature seems like a good idea, I am voting for it too.

[nmersulypnem]

1) CFD are short term contracts and there are limitations in the max amount of days ( 30 days max)
2) higher leverage means higher risks for the liquidity provider. Markets are too turbulent in this moment to allow this....

I hope this helps

Giancarlo
Bitfinex Team

What about the other 7 suggestions?

Some are very minor changes that benefit everyone.

[Lonechaos]

They already implemented an estimate. Why keep complaining...

Not on the "Margin Trading" page,
if you find it, let me know !   

It's right next to the prices... after you type in the price and how much btc, it gives you an estimate of the total.

[CambioBTC]

They already implemented an estimate. Why keep complaining...

Not on the "Margin Trading" page,
if you find it, let me know !   

It's right next to the prices... after you type in the price and how much btc, it gives you an estimate of the total.

Got'cha,

Not exactly what I had in mind,
but it's better than nothing,
still a little backwards.

Thanks


P.S.:  Check this out, enter your tradeable balance

         XXXX.00/x

         That's balance divided by "x" into options,
         and whatever context you select (current buy or sell price) on the screen
         then right-click and it will
         divide your balance by that context which is "x" results,
         displayed in the right-click context menu thus giving you a down
         to the penny "All-In" scenario.
         Faster than guessing at what amount,
         Speed Counts !

         https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/contextcalc

         Like Qt-Trader and also like BitFinex's own "Buy All / Sell All" buttons on the Exchange Page.
         For some reason they did not include it on the "Margin Trading Page"

[bahamapascal]

Hi I have two questions

1. How is bitfinex with the verification process? Are they a less picky then bitstamp?

2. What are your experiences for international wire transfers (withdrawing), are they generally on time?

Thanks!

[CambioBTC]

Hi I have two questions

1. How is bitfinex with the verification process? Are they a less picky then bitstamp?

2. What are your experiences for international wire transfers (withdrawing), are they generally on time?

Thanks!

Yes,
On Both Accounts !

[bahamapascal]

Hi I have two questions

1. How is bitfinex with the verification process? Are they a less picky then bitstamp?

2. What are your experiences for international wire transfers (withdrawing), are they generally on time?

Thanks!

Yes,
On Both Accounts !

Thanks, I will then give them a try with there verification as bitstamp is driving me crazy with not accepting my bank statement, giving me no reason just repeating "please submit another document"

[BitBits]

Regarding feedback for platform features, what do people think about capping the lowest % for lending? I mean can we somehow come up with and put a value to the associated risks?
I am asking this because I am pretty sure people will keep placing lower bits just for the sake of outbidding, without putting much thought to the process or analyzing things, even just a little bit. I have a bad feeling that some people may not even notice when they start putting bids in negative values 

I'd like to also note that I personally do both sides, trading AND lending and I did pay a lot to lenders in my time at Bitfinex.

[Lonechaos]

         https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/contextcalc

         Like Qt-Trader and also like BitFinex's own "Buy All / Sell All" buttons on the Exchange Page.
         For some reason they did not include it on the "Margin Trading Page"

I'm sure with time they can come up with something better, the current workaround was easy to implement.

I don't know about Qt-trader but I can probably tell you why there is no "buy all/sell all" button like exchange. In exchange the amount your trading with is fixed, either x amount of $ or x amount of btc. In Margin mode it count both USD and BTC, while USD value is fixed BTC is not. So your tradeble balance is always fluctuating if there is BTC in the wallet. And what happens when the system detects a trade that you don't sufficient balance? It cancels the whole block at execution and more people will complaint about that.

Give it time, not a "easy" fix