Topic: How did the "bitcoin millonaires" cash out? + other newb questions (Read 640 times)

Make sure you find an escrow for BTC transactions!

-Where is the best place to start buying Bitcoins (I asume mining is useless at this point) for newbies? I keep hearing Localbitcoins is the best way but im not sure about it, I dont want to get scammed. What paymen method should I look for?

I don't know about *best* (I'm a relative noob, too), but I'm using coinbase.com and checking out campbx.com
If you're in the US, things to look for are FinCen compliance (so your exchange doesn't get shut down while holding your $) and the type of payment system that works best for you: ACH, Money Order or cash deposit, wire xfer, or what have you.

-What defines the difference in prices between sites? Like, Mt.Gox right now runs at 554.43 USD / BTC, but BTC-e runs at 495.29 USD / BTC.

As far as I understand it (maybe not that well), the difference btwn Mt. Gox and other exchanges developed because of difficulty withdrawing USD, which escalated greatly when DHS seized MtGox's Dwolla account last summer. There may be other reasons, but I've tried some arbitrage between exchanges a few months ago and by the time I waited for ACH holds and paid transfer fees, and etc. it took like a week and I made all of about a dollar. So, I think the deltas between the exchanges represent the limits of where arbitrage is possible.

Cheers Stan, thanks for sharing your Bitcoin expertise.

Hi, im new to Bitcoin, and I would like to know how cashing out works. I would like to make an investment as soon as it goes down the 400 USD/BTC territory, a small investment that is, and see how it goes, which some are predicting it will go down to even 300, before it sky rockets up to 1000 USD/BTC by early 2014 (again, this is not guaranteed, you could lose a lot of money). Im willing to risk some, but the problem for me is, I keep hearing how difficult it is to cash out. In fact, I keep hearing nowadays is just impossible to cash out, so you are stuck having this virtual currency that is practically useless to buy actual stuff (at least to this day) and, let's be honest, most people here are for the speculative potential it has, at least until it gets normalized and the crazy rollercoaster eventually ends; But the thing is, cashing out to USD/EUR is as difficult as they say? What are the options to do this? I've been told you either find a person that is willing to pay, or use something else which is "automatic", a site like Mtgox or Bitstamp. What's the better option?

So, let us imagine you are one of the lucky (or may I say visionaires?) early adopters that did an investment, even if it was ridiculously low, like this guy:

http://www.thelocal.no/20131029/student-buys-oslo-apartment-with-27-bitcoin-stash

So your life changes forever, after you check the currency equivalencies years later: You now are in possesion of 680,000$.
You don't think twice about it, rush inmediately to your wallet, try to find your password, finally find out your pass. You don't hesitate to buy, since you are scared as fuck that it may go down any minute, so you sell a big part of your BTC. If we read the paper, he says he split his stuff between Mt.Gox and Bitcoin-24:


Since im not only new to Bitcoins but to stock market in general, I would like to know specifically how this works. Like, what is the difference from using Mt.Gox or Bitstamp or Bitcoin-24, compared to sites like Localbitcoins or other sites which is basically a person selling you BTC if you make a payment to a bank account of them? maybe applying a little % like 2... whats the difference? If you are buying/selling in a place like Localbitcoins you do it directly with people, but what about Mt.Gox etc...? who you buy to? it's a person that makes an offer or "an entitiy"?

Also, what did he meant by spread the risk? If there was a crash, wouldn't it meant it happens everywhere? It would go down in Mt.Gox, Bitstamp etc... all the sites, so what's the point of splitting it? The only reason I see is exactly what happened to the guy, aka a site getting seized for some reason (why did Bitcoin-24 got seized??)

And here is more questions:

-What defines the difference in prices between sites? Like, Mt.Gox right now runs at 554.43 USD / BTC, but BTC-e runs at 495.29 USD / BTC.

-Where is the best place to start buying Bitcoins (I asume mining is useless at this point) for newbies? I keep hearing Localbitcoins is the best way but im not sure about it, I dont want to get scammed. What paymen method should I look for?

-Very important question: If you buy BTC, and for example right now it's at BTC 579.71 USD / BTC @ Mt.Gox, and you buy it right now, but you recieve the BTC you bought 1 or 2 weeks later, will you recieve the amount you bought exactly when you bought them or will you recieve the amount of the value it has when you recieve them? This is very important because this is a rollercoaster.
If you buy not using a site like Mt.Gox but a person directly, how does this work? Because if you buy at BTC 579.71 USD / BTC  but then when you get the BTC it has changed a lot, it's worthless. I don't get if im being clear with this question?

-Trading Bitcoins using brokers: What do you think about this? There are some that allow Bitcoins already, with leverages from 1:2 to 1:5, do you think this is a good idea? For example, Avatarade offers a similar service, but it has a major downside: It's not open during the weekends, so if there is a big opportunity during the weekend you will be really pissed off.

-Is there a situation where you can be in debt if something goes really wrong? Afaik, no matter if you go on your own or use brokers, the biggest risk is always lossing whatever you invest, it's impossible you enter in debt (unless you are working with money you took out of a loan, lend money and what not)

Thanks