Why is bitcoin plummeting?

[Elwar]

It could also be that TigerDirect does a larger volume of sales than Overstock (the price fell with Overstock too) They sell instantly so everything bought with BTC might as well be a "sell" order on the exchange.

This seems like what is happening. The price has been fairly steady as bulls are holding out on big buys because of the pending Fed bitcoin sale and the bears are not selling all with the large amount of retailers coming online and Bitcoin adoption.

So a steady slow decline is likely a lot of people with bitcoins buying electronics.

Overstock.com was great (and also sent the price down the first day) but TigerDirect is much more relevant to Bitcoin users. I would not be surprised to see at least $2-300k in bitcoin sales the first day. That is all bitcoins being converted to dollars to pay TigerDirect.

It is good for Bitcoin in the long run. It fulfills part of the chicken and egg scenario that we were always worried about in the early days. It gives more reason for people to adopt using bitcoins day by day. But in its hybrid state of converting bitcoins to dollars it will drive the price down.

[goxed]

People moving in to Dogecoin?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-rise-and-rise-of-dogecoin-the-internets-hottest-cryptocurrency-20140124-31d24.html

[kisa2005]

this is to summarize the most important factors:

-> China profit taking before the Chinese New Year
-> Overstock+Tiger autosell BTC they received from sales
-> Rumored sale of $25m FBI coins - certain traders reducing exposure in the hope to buy cheaper some later

Also some mixed noises coming out of DAVOS, and seemingly not yet enough new entrants globally to counteract temp increased supply.
Still, I d expect that more smart money is looking for dips to buy cheaper coins, so think BTC could dip below 700 but not for long...

Agree that some BTC and LTC diversified into pumping cheaper Altcoins / projects this week (DOGE, CAT, NXT, LOT, MOON etc.), but here market cap is not enough to move BTC substantially... With regards to things being "priced in" is a tough call in such an inefficient market yet...

[Lloydie]

People moving in to Dogecoin?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-rise-and-rise-of-dogecoin-the-internets-hottest-cryptocurrency-20140124-31d24.html

Would this affect Btc prices in fiat terms?

[RickJamesBTC]

Bitcoin will be back up to the 840s very soon. No worries! Time to buy more!

[TERA]

That would be funny if this just ended with another 2 weeks at $820.

[RickJamesBTC]

That would be funny if this just ended with another 2 weeks at $820.

Its really boring. I gave up on day trading because I don't like waiting. I'll be buying back in soon, if not now though... Seems like a good point to bottom out.

[Salivan]

some profit taking right now, when it ends price will recover above 1000$

[goxed]

People moving in to Dogecoin?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-rise-and-rise-of-dogecoin-the-internets-hottest-cryptocurrency-20140124-31d24.html

Would this affect Btc prices in fiat terms?

Someone bought $5million of DOGEs. No idea if that person sold some BTC / LTC first.
This week, transactions worth a total of $US14 million were made, including one Chinese investor who bought $US5 million worth of the virtual currency.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-rise-and-rise-of-dogecoin-the-internets-hottest-cryptocurrency-20140124-31d24.html#ixzz2rIk7O6Ti

[Nova!]

People moving in to Dogecoin?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-rise-and-rise-of-dogecoin-the-internets-hottest-cryptocurrency-20140124-31d24.html

Would this affect Btc prices in fiat terms?

It would raise the price of BTC or LTC because right now there is no exchange which works with both USD & DOGE.  You need to buy another coin first.

[Nova!]

Bitcoin will be back up to the 840s very soon. No worries! Time to buy more!

My prediction is that it will drop to between $300 - $700 and trade in that range for a couple of months with an average of $600.
After that it will jump to $10,000 in the space of a few days.  Jump around between $1k & $10k before settling out at around $5k for a couple months.
Mark my words it will hit $10k (won't stay there but it will hit it) before 2014 is out, might even do it before valentines day.

I'm basing this prediction on a repeated mechanical curve that has been present in the bitcoin market since the first time it reached dollar parity.
If you look at a complete historical chart of the coin you will see a curve (algo trader most likely), that starts as soon as the price hits an even multiple of 10.  It happened at $1, it happened at $10, it happened at $100 and it started happenining again at $1,000.  Someone's got themselves a profit bot

[LOADING.READY.RUN]

Why would it not go down? We've had two weeks of undecidedness... The market didn't have strength to go up, it didn't have much strength to go down. Finally there is some movement.

We're only 1.5 months after the large correction of December (deliberately avoiding the word crash). Look at April 2013, look at 2011. It took us 3-6 months to reach a bottom and stabilize. Not saying it has to be the same this time, but always good to keep in mind that it's a distinct possibility.

In the October-December bull run the price of BTC had a ten-fold increase because people began to see its potential. However, it's quite normal in this kind of situation to run ahead of the adoption, ahead of the fundamentals, which without any doubt has been developing extremely well during the last few months.

But for now, it's just market dynamics.

[kisa2005]

Bitcoin will be back up to the 840s very soon. No worries! Time to buy more!

My prediction is that it will drop to between $300 - $700 and trade in that range for a couple of months with an average of $600.
After that it will jump to $10,000 in the space of a few days.  Jump around between $1k & $10k before settling out at around $5k for a couple months.
Mark my words it will hit $10k (won't stay there but it will hit it) before 2014 is out, might even do it before valentines day.

I'm basing this prediction on a repeated mechanical curve that has been present in the bitcoin market since the first time it reached dollar parity.
If you look at a complete historical chart of the coin you will see a curve (algo trader most likely), that starts as soon as the price hits an even multiple of 10.  It happened at $1, it happened at $10, it happened at $100 and it started happenining again at $1,000.  Someone's got themselves a profit bot

following China selloff in DEC we had BTC dropping to below 400 for a moment... Now has been trading in 750-950 range for a while, i'd be happy to bet BTC is not touching below 650 ever again...

[smoothie]

There are much more market forces going on in Bitcoin than what you described. This is why the price has been going down.

[Tzupy]

Plummeting? Not yet, give it time, and then talk about plummeting.

[wobber]

Right now market is walking cautiously on ice. What until first crack shows up, we'll see then a big explosion, running, fear.

[doctor877]

The guys who got insider info of china sold? This happened at the last crash aswell, just speculating tough.

[MatTheCat]

Right now market is walking cautiously on ice. What until first crack shows up, we'll see then a big explosion, running, fear.

The Ask wall is already piling up around $790 and Huobi isn't looking too clever either.

My very brief time as a bull has come to an end.....I have dissolved my long position at small loss (tiny really) and am now moving back to short position.

If this goes again, it is going right $720 next time.

[Tzupy]

MatTheCat, I advise caution, your position could be overrun.
But if you'll keep a close eye on the market and move fast, you'll be able to avoid this.

[fonzie]

The guys who got insider info of china and/or MtGox sold? This happened at the last crash aswell, just speculating tough.

Quite possible