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Topic: This Bitfinex Credit Bubble cannot end well - page 10. (Read 62097 times)

full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
September 06, 2014, 11:20:45 PM
You can withdraw bitcoins that aren't necessary to fulfill the required collateral to the borrowed money.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
Anyway, I think we commented on another thread and I stated my bearish perspective. The fact that there is liquidity changes nothing. They could have there bids for 50,000 btcs. The chinese exchanges are the ones leading the trend, if they go down, we'll go down, no matter how many bids there are in the bitfinex orderbook.

The only thing that the current orderbook avoids are the flash crashes exclusive to Bitfinex. If there is a flashcrash on Okcoin, we'll crash as well, at most, it will take some minutes more to eat all those bids.

If traders see any major discrepancy between Okcoin and Bitfinex, with prices way above in Bitfinex, they'll borrow bitcoins and dump them like if there was no tomorrow for bitcoin.

Doubt the exchange will allow borrower to withdraw btc.

The lending/borrowing model work on bitfinex because lenders know borrowers will not be able to run away with lender money.
I don't see any reason why they would not be able to withdraw their bitcoin as long as their post withdrawal equity is above the minimum ratio. If someone owns bitcoin but has a little bit borrowed against some of it there isn't any reason why the amount of bitcoin that is not borrowed against cannot be withdrawn.
full member
Activity: 174
Merit: 100
Yes, of course Bitfinex doesn't allow borrowers to transfer the bitcoins out.

I meant traders will borrow bitcoins and short the market, by selling them on Bitfinex and buying them again later at cheaper prices.

Doesn't work well this way as China RMB is a blocked currency.

During no-news period, the price on okcoin and the rest of the exchanges track each other price quite well. But when some big event happen, the chance of arbitrage is none.

True arbitrage with Chinese exchanges probably does not happen on any large scale for this reason. However, when exchanges are very out of sync, traders do move coins to and from the Chinese exchanges to trade against the spread. But this is not real arbitrage -- only taking advantage of temporary price gaps.

The spread has to be wide enough to take on the risk of the exchange going bust due to government shutting them down.
hero member
Activity: 697
Merit: 520
Yes, of course Bitfinex doesn't allow borrowers to transfer the bitcoins out.

I meant traders will borrow bitcoins and short the market, by selling them on Bitfinex and buying them again later at cheaper prices.

Doesn't work well this way as China RMB is a blocked currency.

During no-news period, the price on okcoin and the rest of the exchanges track each other price quite well. But when some big event happen, the chance of arbitrage is none.

True arbitrage with Chinese exchanges probably does not happen on any large scale for this reason. However, when exchanges are very out of sync, traders do move coins to and from the Chinese exchanges to trade against the spread. But this is not real arbitrage -- only taking advantage of temporary price gaps.
full member
Activity: 153
Merit: 100
Yes, of course Bitfinex doesn't allow borrowers to transfer the bitcoins out.

I meant traders will borrow bitcoins and short the market, by selling them on Bitfinex and buying them again later at cheaper prices.

Doesn't work well this way as China RMB is a blocked currency.

During no-news period, the price on okcoin and the rest of the exchanges track each other price quite well. But when some big event happen, the chance of arbitrage is none.
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
Yes, of course Bitfinex doesn't allow borrowers to transfer the bitcoins out.

I meant traders will borrow bitcoins and short the market, by selling them on Bitfinex and buying them again later at cheaper prices.
full member
Activity: 167
Merit: 100
Anyway, I think we commented on another thread and I stated my bearish perspective. The fact that there is liquidity changes nothing. They could have there bids for 50,000 btcs. The chinese exchanges are the ones leading the trend, if they go down, we'll go down, no matter how many bids there are in the bitfinex orderbook.

The only thing that the current orderbook avoids are the flash crashes exclusive to Bitfinex. If there is a flashcrash on Okcoin, we'll crash as well, at most, it will take some minutes more to eat all those bids.

If traders see any major discrepancy between Okcoin and Bitfinex, with prices way above in Bitfinex, they'll borrow bitcoins and dump them like if there was no tomorrow for bitcoin.

Doubt the exchange will allow borrower to withdraw btc.

The lending/borrowing model work on bitfinex because lenders know borrowers will not be able to run away with lender money.
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
Anyway, I think we commented on another thread and I stated my bearish perspective. The fact that there is liquidity changes nothing. They could have there bids for 50,000 btcs. The chinese exchanges are the ones leading the trend, if they go down, we'll go down, no matter how many bids there are in the bitfinex orderbook.

The only thing that the current orderbook avoids are the flash crashes exclusive to Bitfinex. If there is a flashcrash on Okcoin, we'll crash as well, at most, it will take some minutes more to eat all those bids.

If traders see any major discrepancy between Okcoin and Bitfinex, with prices way above in Bitfinex, they'll borrow bitcoins and dump them like if there was no tomorrow for bitcoin.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
Just down to 450 usds per btc you have more than 10,686 bids. That is more than you had 2 or 3 weeks ago in all the orderbook.

Perhaps, some of the orders are fake. But they are high enough to be executed on some wild move trigged by Okcoin (as usual) in little time.

Since the last weeks, we can see a clear difference in terms of liquidity.

that's just the point. this coincides with the post-long-squeeze lack of demand for USD swaps. the core of new bids are far out of reach for any flash crash, especially because of BFX's speed bump policy. these are USD swap lenders. imo, they are interested in lending USD, not buying bitcoins. they are there to give the appearance of bid support.

the situation is less bullish than you make it out to be, i think. but, just an opinion. Smiley
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
Just down to 450 usds per btc you have more than 10,686 bids. That is more than you had 2 or 3 weeks ago in all the orderbook.

Perhaps, some of the orders are fake. But they are high enough to be executed on some wild move trigged by Okcoin (as usual) in little time.

Since the last weeks, we can see a clear difference in terms of liquidity.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
The liquidity problem is solved, as I wrote above, they now have bids that amount to more than 23,000 btc down to 30usds.

I agree that they are not enough transparent on the full identity of the owners. Some of them, clearly, prefer to remain in the shadows. The usual excuse was that they had no license on Hong-Kong. Well, now they have a money transmitter license there.

This doesn't mean they are scammers. I don't think so. But it's like if they were not shore if one day an hacking won't force them to run. Like if their relative anonymity was an insurance for possible raining days.

But I do real trust Raphael. I just hope one day he won't publish something saying that he was scammed by one or two of his shareholders.

i would not say the liquidity problem is solved by any means. it cannot be "solved" simply by lenders moving fiat to the books. that would assume that USD lenders have a modicum of interest in buying BTC. i theorize that most do not -- not at all. there is no demand for USD swaps right now, so they need to pump the bid side in order to make bulls feel safe enough to start driving up USD swap interest rates again. not a chance all those bids stay on the book if we start a serious decline again.

what i will say is that based on the vast majority of reports i've heard here and on tradingview and by watching batched executions of trigger orders, is that i am highly suspicious that BFX is front running their traders. this would not require that they are necessarily stop hunting their own traders themselves, but that is a possibility as well.
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
The liquidity problem is solved, as I wrote above, they now have bids that amount to more than 23,000 btc down to 30usds.

I agree that they are not enough transparent on the full identity of the owners. Some of them, clearly, prefer to remain in the shadows. The usual excuse was that they had no license on Hong-Kong. Well, now they have a money transmitter license there.

This doesn't mean they are scammers. I don't think so. But it's like if they were not shore if one day an hacking won't force them to run. Like if their relative anonymity was an insurance for possible raining days.

But I do real trust Raphael. I just hope one day he won't publish something saying that he was scammed by one or two of his shareholders.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
This is off topic, but, in reality, this thread lost its noble original purpose (problem solved) and should be seen as the unofficial Bitfinex thread (I understand the need, but I dislike self-moderated ones).

This is the thread Bitfinex doesn't like very much, they stopped posting here, but always come here to read us  Grin

indeed, i think that BFX has some unique characteristics due to its margin trading, lack of liquidity, shadiness of operators (w/ allegations of all sorts of shenanigans), horribly coded platform/trade engine, speed bump policies, etc.

it really deserves its own thread in Speculation. i never would have caught $460-->$500 in like 15 minutes if not speculating on BFX apart from the rest of the market (the first "speed bump" crash).
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
I think you let greedy go to your head on a situation of doubtful nature (shareholder or employee paid based on profit), but I also think Bitfinex didn't act well on you.

They should reach a reasonable/symbolic agreement with you, taking in account your past services.

This is off topic, but, in reality, this thread lost its noble original purpose (problem solved) and should be seen as the unofficial Bitfinex thread (I understand the need, but I dislike self-moderated ones).

This is the thread Bitfinex doesn't like very much, they stopped posting here, but always come here to read us  Grin
legendary
Activity: 938
Merit: 1000
chaos is fun...…damental :)
I guess withdrawing the money back to the bank would make it a pain to move it again to the cryptoworld.

So, many ex-lenders didn't have any other option. Lending at current rates doesn't pay the risk.

But I suppose some decided also to move it to other exchanges. With the current orderbook and the new safeguards of Bitfinex, we can't expect more flash crashes bigger than the ones at Bitstamp or other exchanges.

I guess we are always complaining. Or the flash crash was putting our money and the very survival of the exchange at risk or no more flash crashes. Damn!




if you have patience you will amassed a wealth of empires  Grin Grin Grin
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
if you're gonna look at order books, BFX is about the last place you'd look. most manipulated order book in the market.

i suspect that margin calls and stops crippled longs to the point that demand for USD swaps became non-existent. if you have no interest in trading and want to inflate demand for USD swaps, the most effective way to do it is to portray very strong support below. make the bulls all comfy inside. i don't believe for a second that all those USD lenders who moved their fiat to the bid side have any interest in buying bitcoins.
full member
Activity: 653
Merit: 217
I guess withdrawing the money back to the bank would make it a pain to move it again to the cryptoworld.

So, many ex-lenders didn't have any other option. Lending at current rates doesn't pay the risk.

But I suppose some decided also to move it to other exchanges. With the current orderbook and the new safeguards of Bitfinex, we can't expect more flash crashes bigger than the ones at Bitstamp or other exchanges.

I guess we are always complaining. Or the flash crash was putting our money and the very survival of the exchange at risk or no more flash crashes. Damn!


legendary
Activity: 1764
Merit: 1002
A simple look to the bitcoin orderbook (https://www.bitfinex.com/pages/order_book) confirms that.

We had about 7000 bitcoins on bid orders down to 30 usd. Currently, we see 23,290 btcs.

Many lenders converted themselves into cliffdivers net. An activity suitable for risk-averse investors.

here's the visual:

zby
legendary
Activity: 1594
Merit: 1001
A simple look to the bitcoin orderbook (https://www.bitfinex.com/pages/order_book) confirms that.

We had about 7000 bitcoins on bid orders down to 30 usd. Currently, we see 23,290 btcs.

Many lenders converted themselves into cliffdivers net. An activity suitable for risk-averse investors.

That happened on Friday 15th - exactly after the recent drop.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 500
A simple look to the bitcoin orderbook (https://www.bitfinex.com/pages/order_book) confirms that.

We had about 7000 bitcoins on bid orders down to 30 usd. Currently, we see 23,290 btcs.

Many lenders converted themselves into cliffdivers net. An activity suitable for risk-averse investors.

geez, one can dump 20k BTC, and assuming no hidden orders, this would take the price down to $250; but the average price for the whole block would come out to $428.  Quite a few millions jump to the bid side.
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