Am I correct thinking short makes you more profit than buying back if things go well?
Buying back: sell 5 btc at 300, get 1500 usd, buy bac at 100, get 15 btc.
Short: you have 1500 usd on finex, you borrow 5 btc at 300 usd, you sell them on the market, so effectiveley you have now a 3K balance on finex, you buy back 5 btc at 100 for 500usd, you pay back the 5 btc, and you no have a 2500 usd balance on finex, or 25 btc at 100 (minus interests on the 1:1 loan)
Also, what are the risks ? Can you get margin called if price goes too high ? what is the % you should be safe gambling with and how do you calculate it?
@TPTB: are you gonna short it or you have more expected value elsewhere? im thinking about doing it, the trouble is finding the entry point and evaluating the daily interests and the counterparty risk because its gonna be a 3 months short
Correct except (your math is slightly wrong and) you need to keep enough BTC margin in your account to guard against a margin call if the price moves up interim. I was originally going to short at $315 with $70 of BTC margin, but then I decided not to do it because:
1. I don't trust that Bitfinex might require KYC and I can not comply easily with that (my name is not on my billing address).
2. I don't 100% trust that Bitfinex's margin calls can move fast enough if the price gaps down instantly, thus causing a default. Don't 100% trust bitfinex won't get hacked. Just a very miniscule doubt that bitfinex isn't shaving coins.
3. I have so much upside on the coin I am developing (10,000+% gains), it is stupid for me to lose time and risk necessarily development capital on shorting.
4. Leave it for those who need it more than I do, so they can invest in my "Bitcoin killer" coin later
5. I sold into $dollars, which is a non-leveraged short position anyhoo.
Technically your balance is $1500, because you owe 5 BTC @ $300 per BTC.
Also you can hold your margin in BTC on bitfinex, and purportedly then you don't need to submit to KYC requirements even though you sold have also $1500 cash balance. Apparently only if you move fiat in or out of bitfinex from and to a bank then you need to do KYC.