Is there any logic behind this rapid price increase?
It increased by 13% in the last few hours, from around 450$ to 510$. No relevant news were released and Chinese banks and most exchanges still didn't give a completely clear statement regarding the current situation. I am neither a professional trader nor I want to be one because I would panic sell/buy every time and be too emotional about my money, but WHAT THE HELL HAPPENDED TODAY?
Every single leg up was triggered by action on the Chinese exchanges. The Chinese exchanges where it has been said that the vast majority of the volume is fake. The Chinese exchanges who one way or the other, are on death row. Yet it is on the Chinese exchanges where this break out has been triggered, every single leg up since $400. The nonsensical break out on BTC-e kind of proves that this market is based on 90% bullshit, where bot traders (trading real volume or fake?) bid the price up to over $550 upon the point where the long term down trend was breached by a couple of cents, perhaps because the exchanges such as Bitstamp where a greater amount of real USD is at play didn't follow suit, this price spike was over and done with in a minute, but it shows Bitcoin up for what it is. Gambling pure and simple. Like playing poker, great when you are winning, but for every 6-7 people at the table,
generally just one player walks away with the pot and there is always plenty scope for cheating, especially when the players in the best position to cheat, have no oversight whatsoever. Nice odds eh, enjoy your game.
As can be told from the tone of my post, I don't mind admitting that I have been badly burned today. Been shorting big time on way up, have probably been squeezed right at the very top of the market, and have probably made my last Bitcoin trade, except for transferring BTC out to cash out exchange (Bitstamp) where I will cash out for good. Providing Bitstamp actually let me get my money back without subjecting me to an anal probe.
Bitcoin is not an investment. Even if the price quadruples in the next 3 months, it is not an investment. The only thing I would use Bitcoin for other than trying to turn a quick buck would be for darknet drug trades. The only advantage that Bitcoin has over fiat is for off-radar transactions, tax evasion, capital flight etc. But all these avenues are being rapidly closed down. I couldn't even credit $5K to my Bitstamp account without them wanting proof of where it came from. I refuse to hand over this information to Bitstamp so the fiat is going back to my bank account. This anti-customer policy that can only harm their business is a sure sign that there is some hand at play pressing them into doing it. As far as Western consumers go, Bitcoin will be nailed to such an extent that it offers little to no advantages over the conventional fiat system.
With Bitcoin one cannot send money around the world to other developed nations neither cheaper or faster than by using conventional means.
Perhaps it can be done more anonymously but every Bitcoin transaction is stored in public ledger and exchanges are being clamped down upon to 'know thy customer'.
That is not to say that Bitcoin doesn't have a future and won't make further new investors very rich cos it most likely will. However, if Bitcoin is to have a future it will not be as a replacement for the global petrodollar system. No fkn chance. It was put out by the NSA not to undermine the dollar, but to undermine 3rd world and rival nations currencies'. Bitcoin's future will be as a black market form of capital flight. Those who enrich themselves on Bitcoin will be enriching themselves on the blood of the poor. Nothing changes, although I suspect it will make far more investors poorer other than richer, especially anyone who first came along from November 2013 onwards.
For the record, despite the little peek over the long term down trendline, I don't believe the bottom is in. Infact, I know that it isn't. I just have no further interest in trying to catch any bottoms, or sell any tops in this highly manipulated market.
Whole fucking break-out, triggered by China, where Bitcoin is finished and all the volume is fake. PHACT!
