Bitcoin has been all over the press during the last a few month. Everyone who reads the newspapers or watches the news has heard about bitcoin. Even by speaking to people, most have heard about it. (At least in the western world) Asking people if they want to buy some coins, nobody is interested. This has been very different in 2011, 2012 and 2013...
I don´t think that traders hold the price down. It is the early adaptors who are now able to spend their coins for luxury goods. All the merchant adoption is nothing else than an early adaptor tax evasion scheme. If they cash out in fiat the taxmen will come and want his share... very difficult to do that with your new plasma OLED... Merchants sell their coins instantly adding to the selling pressure.
Don´t get me wrong, I am a big fan of bitcoin but it has appreciated a lot in a very short time frame. Reminds me of the Nasdaq and the Neuer Markt in 1999-2000. In my view the bubble has not deflated yet. I am a buyer in the high two digit, very low three digit price range, not scared to miss any train. I´ve made my profit and still have a few coins...
Given that we have a daily supply of 3600 coins, we need 1,7 Mio USD new fiat per day just to absorb the inflation. To me it looks that there is more supply than demand, otherwise we would go up...
To come back to the question of capitulation. If it is not coming to release some air out of the bubble, we will, in my view, see an ongoing constant decline of prices.
A small correction, plasma is 2013, OLED is 2014. Panasonic have (unfortunately) stopped making plasmas.
While I agree that early adopters spending BTC does depress the price, I am not convinced that it is significant now.
It may have been significant in February, when they saw the uptrend break. I would like to see some verifiable data that
clarifies this, how much BTC spending adds to the miners' selling pressure. It would help understand the long term price evolution.
As for capitulation, we are within it since the 5th June, but due to the hodling mentality we haven't dropped much yet.