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Nice method. But, isn't it the same as buy low, sell high?
There is absolutely NO other method than buy low, sell high, there are only variations in how to do this, for example how to buy low and sell high since you can't really KNOW when there is a low or a high.
Juan... though in order to gain bitcoins at the end you need to accumulate more bitcoins on that side where you think the price will move (i assume one can short bitcoins too) so the bigger question is how do you determine if price will go up or down. I mean you can't blindly throw coins in both directions since that for sure will make you lose because of the trading fees.
Yes. You are correct that if a person does not buy low and sell high, then that person will not be profitable... so any trading plan has to at least meet those minimum parameters.
To attempt to further respond to your question regarding setting up orders on both sides, my post provides considerable detailed suggestions providing examples about how to accomplish staggering orders, and you are also correct to the extent that you cannot know for sure which way the price will be moving in the short term. My plan does not rely on knowing the direction of price movement, even though I will get inclinations to tweak a little bit in one direction or another to bet more or less and/or to preserve funds for continued and unexpected overshooting (which bitcoin seems inclined to do).
Therefore, I will be continuously staggering and readjusting my bets on each side in order to continue to buy on the way down and to continue to sell on the way up. I use the word "bet" for ease of reference, but I am really not betting.. For the most part, I execute my trade when the price meets my marker...and sometimes I adjust the marker on the fly, because I don't really want to buy if I think the price is going lower in the near term and I really don't want to sell if I think the price is going higher in the near term.. but if it is not clear about price movement, then I will just execute the buy or the sell in order to lock in the amount.
Ultimately, the trader has to more or less keep track of how much he is buying and/or selling because he cannot get tricked into buying higher than he is selling or selling lower than he is buying.. and these numbers are continuously moving when a position is opened or closed.
I believe that my previous post provides sufficient details of examples, and it will make a lot more sense after aspiring traders attempt to put the outlined recommendations into practice and then maybe read again after practicing... and even develop his/her own custom-tailored approach to how much to trade and at what triggering points.
I actually do not bet in ways to short BTC or bet more BTC than i have in what is called margin trading (or leveraged trading) because in essence, I am not attempting to predict the direction of the BTC prices with any precision and I think that a person can make sufficient quantities by merely employing basic principles that I outlined. There are plenty of opportunities to increase BTC stash and dollars by just having btc and dollars available and to stagger the orders in order to be able to continue to buy as the price is going down and continue to sell as the price is going up.
Even though in my earlier post, I provided smaller numbers of a person who has 20 BTC and $2,000 (a $10K budget in total), which would require smaller buys and sells than my own, my current actual buy and sell staggering looks like this:
My current tentative buy plan is:
$336.00 0.74404762 $250.00
$345.00 0.57971014 $200.00
$354.00 0.56497175 $200.00
$361.00 0.55401662 $200.00
$368.00 0.54347826 $200.00
$373.00 0.53619303 $200.00
$378.00 0.52910053 $200.00
$384.00 0.52083333 $200.00
$392.00 0.38265306 $150.00
My current tentative sell plan is:
$403.00 $150.00 0.372208437
$408.00 $250.00 0.612745098
$414.00 $250.00 0.603864734
$419.00 $250.00 0.596658711
$423.00 $400.00 0.945626478
$428.00 $400.00 0.934579439
$433.00 $400.00 0.923787529
$438.00 $400.00 0.913242009
$443.00 $400.00 0.902934537
$448.00 $500.00 1.116071429
My buy/sell plan is not strict or concrete, and also sometimes there may be some quirks in the numbers based on some of my previous actions regarding positions that I consider to have still open (more or less in my records).
Anyhow, if BTC prices rush beyond my buy / sell points then I may wait and/or combine buying or selling authorized quantities, and after I execute any buy/sell transaction, then I will adjust my projected target numbers on the opposite end.
So for example, in the current above described scenario, if BTC prices go passed $403, then I will sell $150 and then adjust my buy numbers accordingly, and maybe I would then add a plan to buy $150 at $397 or make some other tweaks to my quantities and trigger points (like for example buying $75 at $397 and $200 at $392 and $225 at $384). There are a variety of ways to tweak and to stay realistic about how much to allocate and at what price points.
On the other hand, in the current above set of price plans if the price goes down to below $392, then I will buy $150, and then I may plan to sell $150 at $399 or some other tweaks in my plan within my judgement.
If the price is rushing in one direction or another, I may let the price go passed the pre-planned buy/sell amount and then combine at some point in the middle to make either my buy or my sell in order to lock in and to profit off of the rush of the price change. As anyone should realize there is a considerable increased ability to make a lot more money (either BTC or dollars) when the price changes a lot in a short period of time, but it only works if you have orders staggered in each direction and then you wait out the quick change to combine your buys or sells in order to increase the locked in amount. In this regard, it is sometimes better to lock in the amount early rather than getting greedy because a person is frequently going to have trouble timing the exact top or bottom, and we do not want to get too greedy because it could result in further losses or too much stress regarding the whole practice of attempting to lock in profits at various points and then to thereafter readjust the various positions based on the favorable trade. If the price continues to unexpectedly move in the same direction, then one still needs to have funds available for that continued movement to be able to continue to profit from that direction or to profit in the even that the price changes directions (whether slowly or quickly).
Ultimately, though I am providing some trading guidelines to stagger trades, my plan is not strict, but I am always balancing to make sure that I keep funds on each side of the price movement to be buying with dollars when the price goes down and selling with bitcoins when the price goes up... but I am calculating all of my trades in dollars for simplicity sake and also to make it easier for me to keep track of my amounts of trades ... and to be able to bank my profits in bitcoins, which amounts to an ongoing and continued accumulation of bitcoins.
I hope this further explanation helps.
By the way, even though I am describing a lot of dynamics, sometimes, trades may occur frequently during a day, but sometimes, it may take several days before any trades are executed. Furthermore, a person should also have the ability to set target trade amounts at further out intervals, if s/he wants to be relieved of trading for a while... and accordingly trade on bigger price swings.