I look at the larger picture though beyond the day trade. Simply holding your BTC could make you a very rich person as governments and banks continue to implode. We have already seen an example of people flocking to Bitcoin with the Cyprus mess, and now Argentinians are getting on board as the Peso crumbles at 25% inflation per year (!!!). The exodus from fiat has only just begun, thanks to the news people are waking up to the fact there is a way out that never existed until now.
The buy in is higher now, but the eventual end game will make that $100/BTC look like nothing when it crests $1000s as banking exiles find a new home in crypto-currency as trust in the fiat system continues its epic decline to irrelevance.
We are the pioneers of the most massive paradigm shift the world has ever seen. Hold on to your butts when the fiat stock markets go straight into the ground a little later this year probably taking the rest of the world with it, and that is happening right now as it reaches the level it did right before the 2002 and 2008 crashes. Real economists not controlled by NewsCorp see it coming, as the stock trade is booming, while real world economics paint a whole different picture of what is really going on. Several nations are on the brink of total collapse, any market quiver will spell the end at this point, and it cannot simply be "fixed" by Bernake's magic money press this time.
I truly believe Bitcoin may very well be the last working economies left, and soon.
The crazy thing is, nobody can say with certainty that your not right. I love the idea of moving toward btc, and away from gov and bank controls. But I cannot see such a dramatic shift as you propose, without some massive pain. There might even be some extreme and undesirable consequences.
Like the Chinese proverb " may you live in interesting times". Yay, like the potato famine, or world wars. Lets hope things dont get too interesting, to quickly.
Indeed. What happens next is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Obviously I can't know for sure what will happen, but we're headed for something big I think.
Chimerica! So USA have paid and owe massive sums of US dollars to china. More than can be paid back. And China have become massively dependent on the US$, as they have piles of it, and are owed piles more. They're both locked in this position, headed for a date when USA will default on its loans. So what happens next? Well, maybe Americans deserting the US dollar for btc makes the US$ worthless, and US dept to China basically evaporates. So if China see this happening, the only thing they can do other than start a war, is rush to btc also, exchange their US dollars for btc while they still can. China are already buying gold to reduce dependency on US$, so it seams they are already thinking along these lines.
Could this happen? Could governments have incentives to embrace btc as the financial systems erode and collapse? First they ignore it, then they fight it, then they embrace it whole heartily.
We assume Governments will always oppose btc because it undermines their control. But their system has become a monster, which is out of its cage and out of their control. Btc might solve some of their economic problems, and give them something great to take credit for. Help them win those all important votes