Why didn't you sell?

[JayB]

For those who had Bitcoins right before the Chinese Government's announcement this week and didn't sell them right after the announcement, why didn't you? I'm just curious.

Now I can think of 4 possibilities:

1- You thought the price will go back up and so got hold of your Bitcoins --> Very bad decision
2- You couldn't sell them due to the lack of buyers --> Plausible but unlikely
3- You are emotionally attached to your Bitcoins so you don't want to lose them no matter what --> You need a psychologist
4- When you found out about it, it was already too late --> I forgive you

(More reasons are welcome)

Now here's the explanation for the comments I included right after each possibility.

For reason # 1:

This would be a bad decision if you believe the money you could have made by selling high and buying back at a lower price is greater than the transaction costs associated with these two transactions. Let's say for example that transaction costs for trading Bitcoins is at 1% the value of your total transaction; in this case if you sold at 1,200$ which is nearly the value of each Bitcoin at the time of the news and bought back towards 700$, the value at which a Bitcoin became more stable, you would have made = [(500$ - transaction costs) x (the number of Bitcoins traded)], out of thin air.

The only counter-argument to this analysis would be to convince me that it wasn't normal (according to market dynamics) for a Bitcoin to fall for more than 2- 3% after the news (the break-even point at which you would have been indifferent to sell or hold your Bitcoins).

For reason # 2:

This is a plausible reason, and one which I wouldn't argue to much, except for the fact that I believe we have liquid markets for Bitcoins nowadays, and it's always possible to find a sucker who's willing to pay a higher price than market perception for a Bitcoin. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

For reason # 3 & 4:

No comment

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[Jutarul]

bitcoin hasn't developed it true potential yet. And to benefit from a correction you need to be able to have the technical skills and the wisdom to predict prices.

At this stage this is the better strategy:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345065.0

[Johnny Bitcoinseed]

How about

"Cause I didn't wanna"

Why didn't you sell your gold, silver, or your car?

[Aajo]

think again.
the risk involved having fiat on an exchange is possibly the main reason followed by people having their coins locked (cold storage or investments)

[Voyager]

It's a pain for me to convert BTC to fiat and I don't want to get fiat stuck in an exchange I can't withdraw from.

Call me lazy, but it's easier to just buy things with BTC.

[sublime5447]

How about

"Cause I didn't wanna"

Why didn't you sell your gold, silver, or your car?

Because my car didnt crash in a ditch 

[JayB]

How about

"Cause I didn't wanna"

Why didn't you sell your gold, silver, or your car?

Because I don't have any.

But for someone who has, it's either because there were no buyers, or the price drop (or difference) was perceived to be lower than transaction costs.

[elasticband]

cause i don't need too, duh 

[BitcoinBarrel]

I didn't sell because BTC is much harder to acquire than fiat.

[bitkoinz]

I didn't sell because everyone on speculation said to sell, and I tend to not believe anything that comes out of that section of bitcoin talk. 

[JayB]

So some of you mentioned that its hard to buy Bitcoins from trading platforms? Is this really the case?

Doesn't seem logical as prices are set by the demand & supply dynamics. So if price is now 600 and you offer to pay 605$ you'd probably be able to get it at such a price. This would off-course also depend on volumes traded, but it seems there isn't a lack of it. Correct me if I'm wrong here or if there's anything I'm missing.

[Mjbmonetarymetals]

50% correction, you should have been here for the 80-90% ones, this price move isn't any big deal. The parabolic rises are great, exhilarating the drops are character building and make the next move all the sweeter.

Bitcoin is high risk highly volatile putting more fiat in than your willing to lose is a mistake, a comfortable amount invested long term is the best method.

After all it's your mentality and the many others like you that's causing the price drop  

[JayB]

50% correction, you should have been here for the 80-90% ones, this price move isn't any big deal. The parabolic rises are great, exhilarating the drops are character building and make the next move all the sweeter.

Bitcoin is high risk highly volatile putting more fiat in than your willing to lose is a mistake, a comfortable amount invested long term is the best method.

After all it's your mentality and the many others like you that's causing the price drop  

You, along with a couple other users don't seem to understand my arguments. Please make an effort to grasp the idea behind the post and then hit me with your wisdom, Gosh...

[Lethn]

3- You are emotionally attached to your Bitcoins so you don't want to lose them no matter what --> You need a psychologist

My Bitcoins love me and will never leave me

But seriously paper money is so hyperinflated I'm not letting go unless it's necessary to pay for things I can't otherwise just trade coins for.

[teukon]

Take your pick:

• Counter-party risk.
• Capital Gains Tax.
• I had no access to a suitably secure computer at the time.
  

[desired_username]

I didn't sell because I couldn't care less about the exchange rate or whether it will go up or down.

[JayB]

Guys you do know that markets react and correct in a matter of hours right? (sometimes minutes)

So stop telling me that you didn't convert to fiat because fiat is inflated and what not. Fiat will not inflate in couple of minutes for God's sake. You could've executed the strategy I mentioned in a matter of hours (or few days at most), and ended up with the same number of Bitcoins you started with and cash money on the side........

Since most of you are too lazy to do something about it, I'm thinking of maybe opening a Bitcoin wealth management fund and make myself a couple of bucks...

[OnkelPaul]

Actually there are a number of people having BTC who aren't traders and who don't have accounts at exchanges. Trading BTC for fiat and vice versa is pretty difficult then, and the spread (for example with localbitcoins) is much higher than 2-3%. Add to that equation the effort necessary to do all this, and soon it looks a lot less attractive.

Onkel Paul

[PenAndPaper]

I think it's because the last month convinced people that nothing can stop bitcoin from hitting the moon 
I mean the main debate before the china crash was if bitcoin will reach 100k or 1m$ . It's not easy to sell after that 

[bitcoinminer]

Because I didn't wanna get GOXXXED!