Bitcoin is unsuitable for short orders!

[BCEmporium]

My biggest fear came when Plus500, an online trading platform, sent me an email with bitcoins as investment. These trading platforms are designed to operate with the global financial scam of selling and buying "endless nothing" and as so it includes a way too dangerous feature for the bitcoin world, the so called "short orders".
For those unfamiliar with this term, it means to sell empty handed and then try to buy back later on to fill the order, expecting the prices to go down for it, unlike long orders where you buy to sell later, in which case the investor is expecting prices to go up.

This trading platform was announcing to be operating with MtGox, then this is most likely to cause MtGox to turn into a fractional reserve and soon enough into an empty handed reserve. With people selling non-existent bitcoins and regular bitcoiners withdrawing real bitcoins out of those "sales". Specially taken seasoned bitcoiners do not leave their coins deposited anywhere but their own personal wallets, emptying the now fictional MtGox bitcoins.

[seleme]

If trade happened than bitcoins should be there no matter of shorting or not. On the beginning they sell nothing but on the end they buy same amount of nothing too.

It's only bitcoins or USD that change hands in the process, nothing else. So shorting definitely doesn't have anything with MtGox being insolvent.

I hate it because wealthy individuals and groups can manipulate the prices without buying into Bitcoins at all but that's another pair of sleeves.

[Holliday]

Short sell - borrowing an asset and then selling it with intentions of buying back later at a lower price

Naked short sell- being able to short sell without first borrowing the asset

Only one of these activities is fraudulent.

[BCEmporium]

In the fiat World selling more than you have isn't an issue, just print more paper and that's it. But bitcoins, people actually withdraw them, with so many short orders in line at some point the empty sales will be huge enough to make a fictional reserve of nothing, specially with leverage. So regular buyers, those who really want their coins and not just a number somewhere saying they have them, will not be served and when the word comes out the panic withdrawals will do the rest.

[Ibian]

Can't wait till something like this happens. Will be hilarious seeing the media trying to spin bitcoin as the culprit for why it doesn't work instead of our broken system.

[agf]

My biggest fear came when Plus500, an online trading platform, sent me an email with bitcoins as investment. These trading platforms are designed to operate with the global financial scam of selling and buying "endless nothing" and as so it includes a way too dangerous feature for the bitcoin world, the so called "short orders".
For those unfamiliar with this term, it means to sell empty handed and then try to buy back later on to fill the order, expecting the prices to go down for it, unlike long orders where you buy to sell later, in which case the investor is expecting prices to go up.

This trading platform was announcing to be operating with MtGox, then this is most likely to cause MtGox to turn into a fractional reserve and soon enough into an empty handed reserve. With people selling non-existent bitcoins and regular bitcoiners withdrawing real bitcoins out of those "sales". Specially taken seasoned bitcoiners do not leave their coins deposited anywhere but their own personal wallets, emptying the now fictional MtGox bitcoins.

Plus500 is not taking Mtgox quotes anymore, same as eToro. About Plus500, you can buy or short bitcoins with BTC-e quotation, they close your position every 30 days. It would not be too smart to open a position near the end of the month. I do not know what you mean with "global financial scam", you can trade there and take a profit (shorting or buying any CFD) including bitcoins.
There was a time were they closed your position daily, but it is up to you to take such a risk (buying or shorting). You can do that with litecoins right now (plus500).

I got some profit shorting bitcoins on plus500. They closed all positions around $250, when they decided to use BTC-e charts. From 850 to 250, many investors made a big profit there (leverage 1:10)

[mgio]

No no no no no no. Shorting is necessary to allow bitcoin price to stabilize!

When US regulators banned shorting in 2008 in an misguided attempt to stop falling prices, the market continued to drop and accelerated, and only stabilized when the ban on shorting was lifted 2 weeks later!

See: http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/current_issues/ci18-5.pdf

and: http://whitepapers.stern.nyu.edu/summaries/ch12.html


Short selling is GOOD. Without short selling you can only "bet" on the price going up, which means you either contribute to irrational price increases or do nothing at all.

People need to be able to play both sides to create a stable security.