Feature Request for Exchanges

[Steve]

When buying bitcoins, I want to be able to express an order in terms of the price I'm willing to pay and the amount of dollars I want to spend (with an option to spend all dollars in my account).  The exchange should figure out for me what amount of bitcoins that is.  I'm tired of having to calculate this by hand (which is further complicated by the trade fee).

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[BitPay Business Solutions]

it should be possible, as I trade stocks that way all the time.

For example, BUY $10,000 worth of AAPL at a fixed price of my choosing

the current bid/ask doesn't matter.

it figures out the number of shares.

[Jered Kenna (TradeHill)]

This on our list and we would like to implement it soon.
We will be providing additional options for trading soon and this is one of them.
We don't have an ETA at this point but will announce it when it's ready for release.

Jered

[Steve]

I don't think they can as the quote could be invalid as soon as you see it.

Example: Buy $100 worth of bitcoins at $13 ...if the trade fee is 1%, then the amount of bitcoins for the order would be $99/$13 or 7.6153 bitcoins (truncated to 4 decimal places).  If the current low ask is $14, the then order is placed as "buy 7.6153 bitcoins @$13" ...if the current low ask is $12 and can cover my entire order, then it will execute a trade immediately, buying $100 worth of bitcoins (or $99/$12 = 8.2500 bitcoins).

This is by far the most common trade I do.  I rarely sell bitcoins on the exchanges (instead, I like to spend or save them to spend later).  And when I buy, it's usually for the entire amount that I have on deposit with the exchange (because I have no desire to keep a balance of anything (BTC or USD) in the exchanges).

[phantomcircuit]

I don't think they can as the quote could be invalid as soon as you see it.

Example: Buy $100 worth of bitcoins at $13 ...if the trade fee is 1%, then the amount of bitcoins for the order would be $99/$13 or 7.6153 bitcoins (truncated to 4 decimal places).  If the current low ask is $14, the then order is placed as "buy 7.6153 bitcoins @$13" ...if the current low ask is $12 and can cover my entire order, then it will execute a trade immediately, buying $100 worth of bitcoins (or $99/$12 = 8.2500 bitcoins).

This is by far the most common trade I do.  I rarely sell bitcoins on the exchanges (instead, I like to spend or save them to spend later).  And when I buy, it's usually for the entire amount that I have on deposit with the exchange (because I have no desire to keep a balance of anything (BTC or USD) in the exchanges).

When you buy AAPL from your broker they are actually giving you a quoted price.  That is a price which is good for a certain amount of time and which they are guaranteeing themselves.  They pay for this with a small fee (actually sometimes not so small).

Implementing this on a bitcoin exchange is both more difficult and more risky than the underlying exchange software, mostly because acting as a broker has significant legal implications where as exchanging currency for virtual goods does not.

[Meatpile]

Exactly, so the result will be overcharging you for such a service. Are you really willing to pay another percent just to save you 10 seconds?

I don't know what this method of thinking is called... But I worked for a company once where everyone thought this way: Hey I can make my life easier by making someone else do more work. They didn't think for a second that what saved them 10 seconds of work, caused 30 other people 10 more minutes of work.

[elggawf]

When you buy AAPL from your broker they are actually giving you a quoted price.  That is a price which is good for a certain amount of time and which they are guaranteeing themselves.  They pay for this with a small fee (actually sometimes not so small).

Implementing this on a bitcoin exchange is both more difficult and more risky than the underlying exchange software, mostly because acting as a broker has significant legal implications where as exchanging currency for virtual goods does not.

I think you're missing the point - he doesn't want a quote or anything like that... he just wants the exchange to figure out the appropriate order size to deplete a given amount of funds. Whether the orders fill or not, I don't think anyone in support of this idea really gives a shit.

FWIW, this is only really needed on TradeHill et all - on MtGox as long as you shoot the moon on your quantity, it'll figure it out for you... it'll make two orders, one which can fill and one which can't because of insufficient funds. If you wanna buy $100 worth of BTC at $13, simply put say 10BTC in the quantity field, then cancel the order which isn't actually on the books because of insufficient funds.

On TH though, it's a pain in the arse. Figuring out how much BTC to buy to deplete a given amount of USD either involves a calculator or brute-force guessing.

[julz]

I think you're missing the point - he doesn't want a quote or anything like that... he just wants the exchange to figure out the appropriate order size to deplete a given amount of funds. Whether the orders fill or not, I don't think anyone in support of this idea really gives a shit.

FWIW, this is only really needed on TradeHill et all - on MtGox as long as you shoot the moon on your quantity, it'll figure it out for you... it'll make two orders, one which can fill and one which can't because of insufficient funds. If you wanna buy $100 worth of BTC at $13, simply put say 10BTC in the quantity field, then cancel the order which isn't actually on the books because of insufficient funds.

On TH though, it's a pain in the arse. Figuring out how much BTC to buy to deplete a given amount of USD either involves a calculator or brute-force guessing.

This.

I'm mystified that the other exchanges haven't figured this out. I don't think mtgox maintains it's volume lead purely on momentum. It's about convenience too.
The MtGox interface could be slicker for sure - but it's core ability to place pending orders without the covering funds is handy both for the auto-calculation mentioned above, and for placing a trade which will only run if some other order or deposit supplies the funds.

[James Freeman (imcex.com)]

 If the current low ask is $14, the then order is placed as "buy 7.6153 bitcoins @$13" ...if the current low ask is $12 and can cover my entire order, then it will execute a trade immediately, buying $100 worth of bitcoins (or $99/$12 = 8.2500 bitcoins).

Steve, if I understand you correctly - the feature you are requesting is the rule of executing orders at specified or better price (limit orders). Such kind of execution is default at our newly open imcex.com
The interface of action is pretty close to what you've described. For example, you can Sell an amount of LRUSD at desired price in exchange for Bitcoins. IMCEX exchange will try to execute your order with the specified price (or better if available on market) until the order is either complete or expired. If matching orders cover only part of your - your order will be executed part by part also until the order is either complete or expired.

As I've said we are still in beta and there is a very small volume available, but we will be glad if you decide to stick with us in future.

[Keyur @ Camp BX]

When buying bitcoins, I want to be able to express an order in terms of the price I'm willing to pay and the amount of dollars I want to spend (with an option to spend all dollars in my account).  The exchange should figure out for me what amount of bitcoins that is.  I'm tired of having to calculate this by hand (which is further complicated by the trade fee).

Steve,
      We just added a new execution algorithm called "Spend-X". (You can probably guess that no one on our team majored in Marketing!)

This trade-type allows you to do what you mentioned in the original post.  You also have the options to not enter limit price and let the algo calculate purchase quantity at market price.  It is fun to watch it squeeze in every possible Satoshi within the target spend amount.

Please check it out on Camp BX and let me know your thoughts.

Thank you,
      Keyur



From the draft FAQ:
    Spend-X Algorithm allows to you spend a desired amount by calculating the purchase quantity on your behalf. These calculations are based on current orderbook prices, and commissions are factored in automatically.

    To use Spend-X trade, enter the total amount you want to spend in "Total Amount" field. After this point you have two options:

    First option is to leave the "Price" field blank, and let Spend-X algorithm purchase Bitcoins at Market price. Or,
    Second option is to enter desired limit price per Bitcoin in the "Price" field. Spend-X will calculate quantity after commissions.

    That's it! Execute away.