why is coinbase cheaper to buy btc from?

[BitcoinSteve]

My multi bit wallet and mtgox have btc about $934... coinbase has it to buy for $834  thoughts?

[1714807231]

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[zSprawl]

Because Mt Gox doesn't work very well (try getting verified), and boosts an artificial inflation as a result.

IMO, Coinbase's value is more realistic in the "free market".

[BTCisthefuture]

i thought some of it has to do with volume as well, no ?


anyways i agree, other exchanges tend to offer a more realistic value of bitcoin than gox does.  and yes, gox is a pretty pain in trying to get verified or in getting your fiat money out.

[bitpop]

Usa people need to look at bitstamp prices

[FenixRD]

For the same reason BTCChina was high for a while (vs. others) and now is low. All exchanges are easy to get BTC into. Coinbase is a cinch to get USD into and out of. (Slightly less on the "into" side... see cancellations. Which also has the effect of depressing it, and therefore Bitstamp, since they are very connected.) When fiat is hard to take out, the price goes up. This has a reinforcing effect which perpetuates itself. Then, even less people send fiat, and more simply try to sell *out* of it. In Gox's case, it takes months, like 6 or more for people with any decent amount of funds. This makes Gox's solvency difficult (they aren't receiving fiat, so they must sell their own BTC for fiat to give to customers who sell BTC... quite a circlejerk). When they do have cash they run into banking limits. Their higher (almost 2x) trade fees are the only reason I don't know if they are completely insolvent or not. It's the only thing sustaining Gox,

[BitcoinWalker]

Bitcoins are even cheaper on BTC-E and Bitstamp.

[FenixRD]

Bitcoins are even cheaper on BTC-E and Bitstamp.

I'll agree that BTC-e tends to be lower, but only slightly -- it's also pretty highly accurate, because you can actually wire into it usually (I have been told) and its support of LTC pairs causes arbitrage to hold it and OKCoin in particular, very much on spot with each other, which has the ripple effect of holding the other Chinese exchanges somewhat at a reasonable level, particularly BTCChina. The arbitrage triangle of BTC, LTC, and CNY with OKCoin and other Chinese exchanges, and the triangle of BTC, LTC, and USD with BTC-e and other USD exchanges. Bitstamp can't float high because of Coinbase. Gox is the anomaly.

[FenixRD]

My multi bit wallet and mtgox have btc about $934... coinbase has it to buy for $834  thoughts?

Responding to you specifically -- I forget that some folks don't know about these. Bitcoinwisdom.com ... a few minutes playing with the graphs and all their monitored exchanges and you'll probably be able to understand the patterns just fine yourself, if you know the basic differences in the exchanges' operational methods. Without seeing it, I guess it is kinda confusing why there would be a difference. Watching the marked in action will clarify it for you.

I love that site. I'd be much poorer without it. I gladly pay the ~$10 or whatever per month to keep their servers ticking without hiccup. I have a dozen screens throughout the house, and while some repeat, that's a lot of simultaneous connections. Can't say enough about bitcoinwisdom...