Am I wrong in my n00bsque opinion derived from a mere 2 days of researching and reading about bitcoin from a knowledge base of zero on the topic, that there probably isn't likely going to be another point for bitcoin value to drop below the $100 mark - or maybe once more before it begins its upward climb to mainstream adoption?
I'm getting the impression that the volatility is more in the scared, skittish sorts bailing out the second the media tells them anything negative about bitcoin, and not the actual value of bitcoin itself. That, to me, seems like artificial market manipulation more than the actual value of bitcoin being lost, so when the media starts hollering abandon ship, it's really to get the chickens out of the way and drive the price down so they can swoop in and get BTC - with real value - at a deal (or steal). Is that what's happening?
Also, how does the price/value work? It seems like it's that simple but since this is new to me and I've reached information overload in 36 hours, I'm not convinced this isn't way more complicated and technical than "buy low, sell high"
So if I purchased 1 btc today at $480 and tomorrow China officially bans bitcoin, the US starts yapping about banning it, and all the skittish people jump overboard, the value drops below $100, technically I lost money, but if the media says WalMart will start accepting bitcoin and the value suddenly jumps to $1000, did I double my money? Do I have 2 bitcoins and change? How does this work? Am I missing something?
I totally get the speculation part and it's kind of exciting (is that bad?
) wondering if I should wait til the next media beat down for the price to drop to a more "appealing" range ($100 or less) and jump in then, or just fork over $500 and buy one, and let it ride the wave.
Advice?
(And by advice I don't mean suggesting bitcoin is doomed, I know it's not...it's emerging. These are growing pains is what it looks like from here)