Bitcoinica No Spread Charged for the next 12 hours.

[alan2here]

Bitcoinica is oriented around a somewhat different model of trading with 'positions' as well as the more Gox/Intersango like 'exchange' transactions.

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[StewartJ]

Bitcoinica is oriented around a somewhat different model of trading with 'positions' as well as the more Gox/Intersango like 'exchange' transactions.

I guess the ability to do stop loss orders is impossible for someone who just wants to do regular day-trading with Bitcoins.

Sigh....

[sgbett]

Bitcoinica has stop loss. Day trading is tricky cos of spreads though. You have 6 hours of the "reduced spreads special" to go though ...

[tickets]

stewart, it wouldn't be too hard to write a bot in php to run stops for you, surprised nobody has made one yet.

others -- i am already using google dns...

[StewartJ]

Bitcoinica has stop loss. Day trading is tricky cos of spreads though. You have 6 hours of the "reduced spreads special" to go though ...

How big are the spreads on Bitcoinica, on average?  On Mt Gox it's just a few cents.

[rebuilder]

How big are the spreads on Bitcoinica, on average?  On Mt Gox it's just a few cents.

http://charts.bitcoinica.com/daily_quotes

[StewartJ]

stewart, it wouldn't be too hard to write a bot in php to run stops for you, surprised nobody has made one yet.

Wish I had the smarts to do this, and what a great MT Gox trading help this would be. I would happily donate BTC for that kind of bot.

[StewartJ]

How big are the spreads on Bitcoinica, on average?  On Mt Gox it's just a few cents.

http://charts.bitcoinica.com/daily_quotes

Thanks for the charts. I see .10, .15 and .20 spreads. Oh well, guess that's the price for playing with margin.

[tickets]

hm, problem is what about liability if it fails to execute a stop for you?  
New code always has bugs.

Maybe it would make sense to create an advisory bot though .. one that sends out alerts if your stop or trailing stop is hit...

[bitcoinBull]

hm, problem is what about liability if it fails to execute a stop for you?  
New code always has bugs.

Maybe it would make sense to create an advisory bot though .. one that sends out alerts if your stop or trailing stop is hit...

Can't say I didn't try to warn you.  I've posted a couple of times that stop orders won't protect you.

Stop orders will be executed at the market price.  And if the market price changes quickly to below your zhoutong price, *zhoutonged*.

[tickets]

Advisory stop alerts aren't automatically executed... so unlike automated stops, which will execute at market, you have the opportunity to close your position however you prefer.   For an item this thinly traded, though, you aren't going to want to hold large positions at one price point since it will be hard to liquidate.  Better to stick wiith small lots or at least scale-in/scale-out, and you won't need to worry so much if the spread is big.

[zhoutong]

Dear Mr Z,

I have been mucking around on Bitcoinica for about a month now, with a small amount of coins. I think the site is excellent and I'm very impressed.

However, the possibility of becoming trapped in a position (due to no reserve) is stopping me from moving more money to your site.

Is this something that will be fixed in the future?

If you followed the discussions, you would know that you wouldn't be trapped in a position. Trading restriction only applies on new positions. You can close any position any time. This is guaranteed now.

[ArsenShnurkov]

Why the pony on your userpic have her eyes closed?

[ArsenShnurkov]

I am asking because you can see the spread between bid and ask yourself.
Right now it is already seems to include bitcoinica comission.

[yogi]

If you followed the discussions, you would know that you wouldn't be trapped in a position. Trading restriction only applies on new positions. You can close any position any time. This is guaranteed now.

OK, thanks.
I must have missed that post.

[jothan]

Just wanted to say thanks, zhouthong. The spreads have been amazing for the last 12 hours.

Now that we are back at the normal spreads, would it be possible at all to reduce them a bit ?

I know that you have some risk because of margins, providing liquidity and you need to make some money.

Whatever you do, I appreciate your service very much.

[zhoutong]

Just wanted to say thanks, zhouthong. The spreads have been amazing for the last 12 hours.

Now that we are back at the normal spreads, would it be possible at all to reduce them a bit ?

I know that you have some risk because of margins, providing liquidity and you need to make some money.

Whatever you do, I appreciate your service very much.

It's to my best interest to lower the spread, because people don't trade on Bitcoinica if the spread is high.

We have to pay Mt. Gox fees though. Currently we are paying 0.25%, the lowest tier. And the "commission" we charge is always less than 0.6%. So just do your own math by looking at the homepage numbers. Bitcoinica is actually quite cheap.

If you just want to catch the spikes, perhaps Mt. Gox is a better choice because they don't guarantee any liquidity and you are completely on your own.

[mobodick]

The lowest price ever tracked today is only 4 cents, or 0.66% lower than the Mt. Gox low. I believe that unreasonable forced liquidations shouldn't happen again after the last algorithm change.

Your model is broken.
It acts often like a base ball glove.
When all logic say's now is the time to buy suddenly your buy price rises far above mtgox price and catches all the people falling for this trick.
Same goes for selling.
Quite often your spread just sits there, covering up all profit.
If this doesn't happen then you suddenly have liquidity problems.

So, either your algorithm is broken or you are not doing this fair.

Yesterday there was a spread of over 1 bitcoin.
That's bizar and totaly unbalanced.
And people have to wait untill your algorithm normalizes.
Often, when there is action, your algorithm just overreacts and covers the profits.
But by the time it normalizes there is no action on the exchanges.

This forum has even invented a term to describe this: Being Zhoutonged

Your algorithm has tons of hidden risk built in.
Now, the relation between the exchanges and your casino is unknown.
Please make this relation/algorithm PUBIC!.
This will make sure everyone knows the risks.
The risk comes not from the leverage but from the non-stability in your algorithm!
It resonates too much.

[Crypt_Current]

The lowest price ever tracked today is only 4 cents, or 0.66% lower than the Mt. Gox low. I believe that unreasonable forced liquidations shouldn't happen again after the last algorithm change.

Your model is broken.
It acts often like a base ball glove.
When all logic say's now is the time to buy suddenly your buy price rises far above mtgox price and catches all the people falling for this trick.
Same goes for selling.
Quite often your spread just sits there, covering up all profit.
If this doesn't happen then you suddenly have liquidity problems.

So, either your algorithm is broken or you are not doing this fair.

Yesterday there was a spread of over 1 bitcoin.
That's bizar and totaly unbalanced.
And people have to wait untill your algorithm normalizes.
Often, when there is action, your algorithm just overreacts and covers the profits.
But by the time it normalizes there is no action on the exchanges.

This forum has even invented a term to describe this: Being Zhoutonged

Your algorithm has tons of hidden risk built in.
Now, the relation between the exchanges and your casino is unknown.
Please make this relation/algorithm PUBIC!.
This will make sure everyone knows the risks.
The risk comes not from the leverage but from the non-stability in your algorithm!
It resonates too much.

When you make a margin trading platform, you can make your algorithm more fair.  If you actually do, you can bet I'll trade there more often.

Right now -- I like Bitcoinica quite a bit.

[notme]

It's not his algorithm causing resonation, it's his users and others who are overreacting to every little market move.