drop in btc value

[breandan81]

anyone else notice that bitcoin has lost about 20% of it's value in the last couple hours?

[1714046390]

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[1714046390]

1714046390

[davout]

just correcting a bit

[ribuck]

It looks like it was just one big sale taking the price down. Check back in a day or two to see if there's any momentum behind the drop.

[kiba]

This is only on MtGox. If other markets follow, than the price drop is for real.

Otherwise, somebody happens to panic in a strong growth period of the bitcoin economy.

[malditonuke]

On mt gox, yup.

My assumption was that someone decided to cash in a lot of their chips, and some speculators got jittery.

[davout]

I think these drops are healthy things

[kiba]

I think these drops are healthy things

Having learned my lesson from the last crash, I am not surprised.

[Raulo]

This is only on MtGox. If other markets follow, than the price drop is for real.

Bitcoin Central followed and other markets are negligible.

I think anybody who wants a long-term success of Bitcoin should welcome price drops. There was nothing healthy in the rush to parity. The Bitcoin economy should grow by increase in the number of transaction and the value of items and services exchanged and not by price speculation.   

[theGECK]

This is only on MtGox. If other markets follow, than the price drop is for real.

Bitcoin Central followed and other markets are negligible.

I think anybody who wants a long-term success of Bitcoin should welcome price drops. There was nothing healthy in the rush to parity. The Bitcoin economy should grow by increase in the number of transaction and the value of items and services exchanged and not by price speculation.   

The exchange of things of value, whether tangible or not, in the economy is the real measure of how healthy the currency is, speculation just leads to instability. If Bitcoins end up being a speculator's plaything, I don't think adoption of BTC will ever take off in a meaningful way.

[davout]

Bitcoin Central followed and other markets are negligible.

[kiba]

The exchange of things of value, whether tangible or not, in the economy is the real measure of how healthy the currency is, speculation just leads to instability. If Bitcoins end up being a speculator's plaything, I don't think adoption of BTC will ever take off in a meaningful way.

An assertion that must be backed up with logical reasoning.

[theGECK]

The exchange of things of value, whether tangible or not, in the economy is the real measure of how healthy the currency is, speculation just leads to instability. If Bitcoins end up being a speculator's plaything, I don't think adoption of BTC will ever take off in a meaningful way.

An assertion that must be backed up with logical reasoning.

If bitcoins are primarily used by speculators, it will lead to wild swings in the price of bitcoins as they buy and sell, resulting in a fear by the average person of getting into the bitcoin market. There will be rushes where the price goes way up, and drops where speculators are trying to sell them before losing more money/buy them cheaply before it goes up. Many commodities that are heavily speculated with/against/[whatever the right term here is] do the same thing now, and it hinders using them as a currency. Not that they don't make fine currencies, but that the wild swings in what people are willing to trade for it (it's market value) scare people away.

[kiba]

If bitcoins are primarily used by speculators, it will lead to wild swings in the price of bitcoins as they buy and sell, resulting in a fear by the average person of getting into the bitcoin market. There will be rushes where the price goes way up, and drops where speculators are trying to sell them before losing more money/buy them cheaply before it goes up. Many commodities that are heavily speculated with/against/[whatever the right term here is] do the same thing now, and it hinders using them as a currency. Not that they don't make fine currencies, but that the wild swings in what people are willing to trade for it (it's market value) scare people away.

Still an assertion.

1. Speculation.
2.
3. Wild swing.

[Mythoranium]

Well, but you can never get rid of speculators - wherever there is something that some people expect to rise in value, there will be speculators. Be it BitCoins, Dollars, Euros, Gold, Real Estate, food or anything. People just really like the opportunity to get more valuable stuff for doing nothing, just waiting a bit.
So I think speculators are a vital thing to any and every economy, unless that economy, unless that economy somehow guarantees that the value of things and any currency stays exactly the same at all times.

On the matter, I like watching the graphs and these oscillations - right now it is back up at 0.978

[theGECK]

The assertation of speculation=wild swings is proven in the commodities market, which is notoriously volatile because of all the speculation that goes on in those markets. To do statistical analysis is above my economic abilities, but I have never met anybody who believes that speculation stabilizes a market.

And I don't think that speculation should leave a market. As you said, where there's value, there is speculation. I'm just saying that we, as a community, need to be careful of relying heavily on the current USD/BTC ratio to see how much Bitcoin is worth. The value to those who own BTC as a currency is not contained in that, but within what products and services they can trade for it.

[Mythoranium]

Well, yes, you are absolutely right - people should get BitCoins to spend them on goods/services, instead of just buying them for some amount of USD just to later sell them back for another (or maybe the same) amount of USD.

[kiba]

The assertation of speculation=wild swings is proven in the commodities market, which is notoriously volatile because of all the speculation that goes on in those markets. To do statistical analysis is above my economic abilities, but I have never met anybody who believes that speculation stabilizes a market.

You can say it's "proven" but that doesn't mean anything. I can say it's proven that free markets work, but nobody should believe my conclusion because I didn't provide any evidence.

[ronaldmaustin]

LOL.  I used to be this guy.  I'm confident enough to admit that now.

[FreeMoney]

The assertation of speculation=wild swings is proven in the commodities market, which is notoriously volatile because of all the speculation that goes on in those markets. To do statistical analysis is above my economic abilities, but I have never met anybody who believes that speculation stabilizes a market.

And I don't think that speculation should leave a market. As you said, where there's value, there is speculation. I'm just saying that we, as a community, need to be careful of relying heavily on the current USD/BTC ratio to see how much Bitcoin is worth. The value to those who own BTC as a currency is not contained in that, but within what products and services they can trade for it.

Hi, I think speculation stabilizes markets.

[theGECK]

The assertation of speculation=wild swings is proven in the commodities market, which is notoriously volatile because of all the speculation that goes on in those markets. To do statistical analysis is above my economic abilities, but I have never met anybody who believes that speculation stabilizes a market.

And I don't think that speculation should leave a market. As you said, where there's value, there is speculation. I'm just saying that we, as a community, need to be careful of relying heavily on the current USD/BTC ratio to see how much Bitcoin is worth. The value to those who own BTC as a currency is not contained in that, but within what products and services they can trade for it.

Hi, I think speculation stabilizes markets.

I was waiting for this