This currency is too volatile!

[Rassah]

If you had bought back in mid July, you would've lost 5% by august!

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy

How the hell does anyone use it or know how to price things in it?! Why do people trust it when it's value can plummet like that at any time? 

[The Bitcoin Co-op]

I don't even know, man. After all the Ponzi schemes, I think it's pretty clear this currency is a scam. 

[teukon]

Did you know that some people actually have the bulk of their pension in this currency!  I kid you not.

[kik1977]

If you had bought back in mid July, you would've lost 5% by august!

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy

How the hell does anyone use it or know how to price things in it?! Why do people trust it when it's value can plummet like that at any time? 

Do you think the stock exchange does any better? In the same period of time I've frequently seen shares losing or rising 10, 20 or even 30%.. 5% is not that bad, some shares can loose that in a few hours. If we talk about March-April I agree, that's quite extreme!

[Kluge]

Pssh. That's nothing. I was considering emigrating to South Africa. Then I saw the historical exchange rate on the Rand. Yikes.

ETA: For anyone interested, I decided my best bet would probably be to dance across the Korean DMZ with a boombox to get an audience with Jong-un so I could publicly defect in exchange for a free room in one of those luxurious and perpetually-empty diplomat hotels.

[teukon]

If we talk about March-April I agree, that's quite extreme!

Er... volatility was less in March-April no?  Are you talking about a stock?

[kik1977]

If we talk about March-April I agree, that's quite extreme!

Er... volatility was less in March-April no?  Are you talking about a stock?

No, BTC of course! 

[BitAddict]

If you had bought back in mid July, you would've lost 5% by august!

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy

How the hell does anyone use it or know how to price things in it?! Why do people trust it when it's value can plummet like that at any time? 

If you bought one year ago you earned 1,200%

Losing 5% in one month is nothing!

[seafarer124]

You can't put money in BTC today and then go off spending like a drunken sailor, unless you like losing money.

Wait if you do not need the cash now.  You have to look at the big picture over time.

BTC is still very young, just be patient.

[CompNsci]

How the hell does anyone use it or know how to price things in it?! Why do people trust it when it's value can plummet like that at any time? 

If you are going to hold BTC for any period, make sure it is based on a belief in the long term value of BTC as a currency that allows you to send any amount to anyone anywhere in the world in about 10 minutes.

[Kluge]

I also forgot DXY was another abbreviation for Bitcoin.

[po1992one]

If you had bought back in mid July, you would've lost 5% by august!

http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/index/dxy

How the hell does anyone use it or know how to price things in it?! Why do people trust it when it's value can plummet like that at any time? 

Wait a year and then come back and post.  You will have a bigger return then any other investment.  Like bitaaddict said, last year was 1200% return.

Do you mean from 01/01/12 to 01/01/13     

[Bitalo_Martin]

You guys dont understand the nature of a free market money.

Free market money is money of supply and demand, it is basically an agreement between people to decide that this thing called bitcoin has a value. As for gold, silver or buckets of water there is always a market price, that can be 1 cent or 5000 dollars.

But at every single point in time you can chose to accept one bitcoin as payment, as you know that at this point in time you could exchange it for something else, like 100 USD at Bitstamp.

When this is combined with an honest, uncheatable, unfakable and not manipulatable algorithm with limited supply this whole thing is EXTREMELY powerful!


Gold is basically the same thing. It is more or less useless yellow stones, and the gold price can theoretically crash over night, but it will not, as the people are fascinated about it, such as with bitcoin.

Also, no one would ever care about about these questions like "how many shops accept gold?", "can you pay your rent in gold"? No, but this does not matter, as gold is a free market money and you can always exchange it with someone else to get the "funds" to pay for your rent.


So, volatility has big chances, but of course also big risks. But put this in comparison to other "currencies" such as FIAT money, it always loses purchasing power over time plus it can suddenly lose 100% over night, see Cyprus.

[jdbtracker]

no choice on the volatility, just not enough regular movement and each area of the globe has different demand and persieved value to it. It's mostly controlled by liquidity and it's asking price, someone goes too low and has a lot of it, no choice this thing will tank until that trader gets bought out. The lowest bid controls the price... temporarily.

[icem3lter]

Also, no one would ever care about about these questions like "how many shops accept gold?", "can you pay your rent in gold"? No, but this does not matter, as gold is a free market money and you can always exchange it with someone else to get the "funds" to pay for your rent.

I dont get this argument because Bitcoin is not unique, other alt coins will do the same job. The only thing Bitcoin gives value is popularity/hashpower/number of places to spent

[RodeoX]

And what exactly are $USD's, is that some kind of alt coin?  Can you use them to get real bitcoins?

[saddambitcoin]

dxy is usd and i think some people didn't get the joke

[The Bitcoin Co-op]

Did you know that some people actually have the bulk of their pension in this currency!  I kid you not.

That's just madness!

[acoindr]

Oh, sorry, I thought this was a thread on the Bolivar or maybe the Peso

Venezuela's Currency Down 75% Since Hugo Chavez Died In April

---
Argentina's president vows not to devalue currency

Argentines have become increasingly desperate to ditch the peso and buy U.S. dollars. They are doing so to hedge against inflation, which economists say totals around 25% annually.

[Nikolaj06]

Hmmm... My troll detector is buzzing.. Seems like a case of too advanced sarcasm for people to detect.. I :-D
Well played Rassah!