Mat, don't get back into the old paranoid habits. This is not, or at least not predominantly Ukraine news driving up the price. Doesn't matter how long the current upwards motion will last, but for now it's clear it has some power, right? The first bit was plain old buying pressure and confidence in the price level above 400, then above 500, and the remaining meters... well, they're pure old "I hope I don't miss the train" reactions of the market. Feedback loops. Circlejerk. Don't fall into the newbie trap of having to explain everything that happens in terms of world events. I'm not saying to ignore them, but whatever the events are, they need to fall on fertile ground, and by the looks of it, that's some mighty fertile ground right now. (went long earlier today, btw. took an unpleasant hit to my total btc, but nothing too bad.)
Thanks for the kind of advice....
We are both agreed that the market was looking stagnant, weak, and set for another leg down to confirm a low volume higher low, right?
So where is this fucking mass of buying power coming from? Where are all these massive bidding walls coming from? This is tens of millions of USD buying right at upper extremities of a highly depressed market in amongst a shit-storm of very scary Bitcoin news. Bottoms do not normally play out like this!
Granted, it 'might' be some megawhales looking to trigger another parabolic surge into Bitcoin, but would you not agree, that this has timed perfectly with the very first eastern Europe business hours, on the first banking day of the week after Putin marched his soldiers into the Crimea region of Ukraine?
Maybe I'm just a narcicist, but for me it's all about my own reactions, and observing them. You know with which thought I woke up today, 2nd time in a row? "I hope price acts nice today, and I can buy back in at a small profit, or at least profit neutral".
Once I realized that, I knew I'd buy back at a loss. Then I waited another hour, and paid for it.
The next step is simply: If *I* hope for a new bottom, for cheaper prices, while sitting on a big fat pile of cash, then why wouldn't others do as well. We're just one big pack of monkeys waiting for one of us making a move first, then rushing to get in on the action as well once it's clear it's a trend.
It's the same thing over and over again. And, yes, I also fall for it more often than not as well: volume can be a poor indicator, when there's money sitting on the sidelines. So what it takes is a short crash to reveal the underlying buying pressure. We had that "flipping the light on in a dark room" moment, at 400. *That* was the volume I should have focused on, not the pathetic volume of the last days.
If a room full of gunpowder blows up because some guy lights a match, who do you call responsible for the explosion? The match, or the room full of gunpowder? The match was that whale on bitstamp today, at midnight. But what actually blew up was built up buying pressure.
Take that interpretation or leave it, but I find it more plausible than that a few thousand people suddenly decide that *now* is the right time where the already well known Ukraine clusterfuck *really* warrants buying into Bitcoin big time.