Topic: Guys, relax. This up down volatility is all 100% perfectly normal (Read 2688 times)

One time I made an airplane out of popsicle sticks!

Both the housing and QE bubble were (are) products of the Federal Reserve's manipulation of interest rates. So, not really a fair comparison.

except the housing bubble in Australia lives on....apparently the longest bubble in history now

Quoted for truth.  These are words of wisdom here.  Everything you said is precisely my sentiments.

As a tool for exchange, it doesn't matter what price BTC are at, the most important think is stability. Imagine trying to be TSR which hedges BTC against fiat these past two weeks. On the other hand, it is clear more people are using bitcoin to try and store value and/or speculate, in which case the price rise is good/.

Nevertheless, people should forget about the run up to $XXX, it was never sustainable. Look at things in about 90day moving averages and get a better picture, the rest is noise.

Everyone saying that major money is about to move into bitcoin (some of it already has of course, look at the Winklevosses) is silly though. Even the highest flying most gambling traders aren't going to touch a smallish manipulated market, with only one exchange that can declare trading freezes whenever it wants. that is seeing 100% swings a day

Keep calm and carry on, I think most of us now that it's not bitcoin that will eventually be used anyway, it's something that will come out of bitcoin or be built on top of bitcoin. At the moment the infrastructure of this currency is still in alpha stages, nowhere near ready for average person to start using it. Christ, we just had a blockchain split less than a month ago, it was handled well, but that shit can't happen when BTC are worth $100+!

I agree with that.  It is not true with small volatility but, you can't tell me at $266-$105 in one day anyone was successfully and happily using BTC to exchange goods.  The bigger these swings the less usage.  Now that there are 1000 times as many speculators as users, things look much dimmer.

Yes people are able to abuse it like a commodity because it does not yet heavy usage.  You would need trillions of dollars to even begin to affect a real currency like the USD and even then the Fed Reserve could take counter measures.  Since Bitcoin is does not have enough adoption it is being treated as a commodity.  The problem is that beyond currency Bitcoin does not actually have a use.  Oil, Bananas, Gas, Frozen concentrated orange juice, Gold, Silver are commodities that are tangible and have a use beyond being used as a currency (although they can be used as currency and some have).  Hell even paper money can keep you warm in a fire or wallpaper your house (just ask the Germans).

This is why Bitcoins are probably really only worth less than $10, lack of adoption.  Not $1000 or $10,000 as speculators would love for you to believe.  Don't buy into they hype and if you do expect to lose your shirts unless you are smart enough to buy low and sell high.  I stopped buying last time at $14 and sold at $230.

True story and fruits and nuts will tend to buy things even when they are overpriced with little value.  

Bitcoin is both a currency and a commodity.

From CNN

https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb


So yes, bitcoins are both apples and oranges at the same time. Maybe that is part of its value.

We also went from $15 to $266 in 2 months. Neither is normal, they cancel out (mostly) and you are left with:

~500% increase in price.
A bunch of people leaving gox
Everybody running around in circles acting like idiots.

But still - both apples and oranges are fruits. 

You are comparing commodities to something that is supposed to have value based on being a usable currency.  Sure speculation and volatility are normal for commodities.  Speculators trade commodities.  However, volatility makes currency useless.  If Bitcoin is not a useful currency it has no usefulness.  Precious metals however do have a usefulness however, slight that may be perceived.  Apples and Oranges my friend.

This.

Volatility in the bitcoin price is normal, but half of the exchanges being down at any given time is not normal.

Yes it is normal for a speculative bubble built on buying panic and no fundamentals....that is what the charts above show.

Well sure there were external factors (ie MtGox), but every massive market drop had an external factor. So yes, it is (unfortunately) normal.

Yeah.. Drop of $266 to $54 in 2days is absolutely normal lol!

Oh wow

It is, too. See here:

Im interested, especially if you'd prefer python