The Historical Depth Blog -- updates once a day

[ineededausername]

So that in a few months we can look back and see what happened on mtgoxlive over time.
12/17/2011 at 10:38 GMT-5 (roughly)

[proudhon]

There's got to be a way to make a dynamic historical depth chart.

[JohnOliver]

Good idea but the depths don't mean much IMHO. We've all seen walls vanish into thin air when it's being approached.

It costs money to put up a bid wall (time value of USD), but it costs nothing to put up an ask wall since there are no Bitcoin banks right now. Of course keeping your coins on mtgox is more dangerous than keeping them in your wallet, but the difference in risk is negligible. The devaluation of your Bitcoins is almost the same whether they got stolen on mtgox or other people's bitcoins got stolen while yours sat in your wallet.

[Revalin]

There's got to be a way to make a dynamic historical depth chart.

I do it like this:



It's useful for analyzing bot behavior, and it's handy when explaining market behavior to people.  It's a little more relevant in Bitcoin than typical markets: here we have a few people (I've seen 2 or 3 distinct patterns) who have enough capital to significantly shove the market around (The Manipulator).  You can spot them this way.

Once you've figured those things out, stick to the price charts for your actual trading.  Anyone can put bogus signals in the depth to exploit bots or get the paranoids in a tizzy, but long term what matters is who's willing to actually go through with the trades.  90% of the real signal is in the price.

[ineededausername]

Good idea but the depths don't mean much IMHO. We've all seen walls vanish into thin air when it's being approached.

I'm not making this for some sort of analysis afterwards, it's not even in numerical format.  I just think it's a cool collection of pictures to have of Bitcoin markets in their infancy

[FreeMoney]

Really would have been nice to have some shots of the really early markets.

$1000 would have blown the asks away and the spreads were usually 10%+.

I'd like to see how thin the market was last time we were at this price.

[ineededausername]

Really would have been nice to have some shots of the really early markets.

$1000 would have blown the asks away and the spreads were usually 10%+.

I'd like to see how thin the market was last time we were at this price.

There are a few old depth charts in S3052's technical analysis thread... and yeah, they sure were small back then.

[nmat]

Depth charts would be an interesting information to have, but I think that people give too much importance to walls and standing orders. Anyone can make an order. I can easily write a bot to put random orders up there and I won't lose a cent. Market depth by itself is not an accurate measure of the buy/sell strength.

[phelix]

Depth charts would be an interesting information to have, but I think that people give too much importance to walls and standing orders. Anyone can make an order. I can easily write a bot to put random orders up there and I won't lose a cent. Market depth by itself is not an accurate measure of the buy/sell strength.

You would, of course, have to have funds deposited in the exchange though, correct? That in itself is interesting information to have, although I wouldn't give it too much importance either.

standing orders can be bought/sold into...  that makes a difference

[ineededausername]

mtgoxlive at 12/18/11 11:00 AM EST



Note: In the future, if large price movements over one day occur, I might update this thread many times that day.

[proudhon]

I've got a hunch we're going to see some movement today, one way or another.

[JohnOliver]

Depth charts would be an interesting information to have, but I think that people give too much importance to walls and standing orders. Anyone can make an order. I can easily write a bot to put random orders up there and I won't lose a cent. Market depth by itself is not an accurate measure of the buy/sell strength.

You would, of course, have to have funds deposited in the exchange though, correct? That in itself is interesting information to have, although I wouldn't give it too much importance either.

standing orders can be bought/sold into...  that makes a difference

Key word there being "can". Bot-controlled walls can disappear or shift in terms of milliseconds, so they are extremely misleading. Especially when you consider that you're relying on misinformation that someone is purposely feeding you.

[proudhon]

I've got a hunch we're going to see some movement today, one way or another.

I was wrong.

[bittenbob]

I've got a hunch we're going to see some movement today, one way or another.

I was wrong.

yup, this stability is killing me lol. I would have expected at least a spread of 10 cents over the day but not even.

[JohnOliver]

I've got a hunch we're going to see some movement today, one way or another.

I was wrong.

yup, this stability is killing me lol. I would have expected at least a spread of 10 cents over the day but not even.

Don't jinx it, guys. When the storm comes we'll all be wishing for calm seas again.

[proudhon]

Looks like my hunch wasn't that far off.

[ineededausername]

mtgoxlive at 12/19/11 10:50 AM EST



Today will be a multiple-update day

[ineededausername]

mtgoxlive at 12/19/11 3:33 PM EST

[ineededausername]

O.o

3 updates... this is one of those "day is not a day" situations.

mtgoxlive at 12/19/11 10:50 PM EST

[ineededausername]

mtgoxlive at 12/20/11 10:40 AM EST