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Topic: Why didn't you sell? - page 7. (Read 13386 times)

legendary
Activity: 1316
Merit: 1000
Si vis pacem, para bellum
December 08, 2013, 08:39:37 PM
why should i sell at  $1200 ?  tis chicken feed 
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1001
December 08, 2013, 07:41:30 PM
Many people panicked after the shut down of Silk Road and sold their coins.  The rebound was really fast though and then many had to buy in at a higher price and ended up with less coins. The China situation could have had the same response. Nothing is a sure thing with BTC.

For some of us with BTC in cold storage, it is a bit time consuming to get coins on exchanges.  Then the risk of trading them is a bit daunting.  It is not a guarantee that the price will drop much.  For those of us that do not want to end up with more fiat then BTC it is just not worth the risk.  We are thinking long term here.  To end up with $10,000 or more in fiat now would be stupid if the BTC we sold is worth $100,000 in a few months.  It is way less risky to just buy and hold.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1018
December 08, 2013, 07:40:57 PM
I sold.  For sure.  Sold at $1107. Bought back in at $690.  Missed the bottom in both directions, but was happy to get SIXTY PERCENT MORE coins than what I had on Friday!  WooT!

You sold ALL your BTCs? That's a dangerous gamble. One that historically didn't succeed. - the one that has historically been a winner is pushing BUY at any given moment.

You got lucky. Probably you won't in the future. Try to accumulate as much coins as possible and then gradually sell for profit when you hit your targets.

Good luck.
legendary
Activity: 1148
Merit: 1018
December 08, 2013, 07:36:31 PM
You just do not turn your back on an asset that has given you a 7,000% gain in less than 12 months. Calling tops consistently is sheer luck or black magic (what's it, masterluc?)

The only way to rule out emotion is to have a rational plan that fits both your circumstances and your needs.
legendary
Activity: 2338
Merit: 2106
December 08, 2013, 07:35:21 PM
I sold.  For sure.  Sold at $1107. Bought back in at $690.  Missed the bottom in both directions, but was happy to get SIXTY PERCENT MORE coins than what I had on Friday!  WooT!

congrats. my dick is bigger.
hero member
Activity: 910
Merit: 501
December 08, 2013, 07:33:11 PM
I sold.  For sure.  Sold at $1107. Bought back in at $690.  Missed the bottom in both directions, but was happy to get SIXTY PERCENT MORE coins than what I had on Friday!  WooT!
newbie
Activity: 59
Merit: 0
December 08, 2013, 07:17:20 PM
For those who had Bitcoins right before the Chinese Government's announcement this week and didn't sell them right after the announcement, why didn't you?

1- You thought the price will go back up and so got hold of your Bitcoins --> Very bad decision

For reason # 1:
This would be a bad decision if you believe the money you could have made by selling high and buying back at a lower price is greater than the transaction costs associated with these two transactions. Let's say for example that transaction costs for trading Bitcoins is at 1% the value of your total transaction; in this case if you sold at 1,200$ which is nearly the value of each Bitcoin at the time of the news and bought back towards 700$, the value at which a Bitcoin became more stable, you would have made = [(500$ - transaction costs) x (the number of Bitcoins traded)], out of thin air.

This seems brilliant, and obvious, in hindsight.  And if you did time it just like this for yourself this time, kudos.  But will you be able to do it again, and again?
newbie
Activity: 27
Merit: 0
December 08, 2013, 07:03:32 PM
For those who had Bitcoins right before the Chinese Government's announcement this week and didn't sell them right after the announcement, why didn't you? I'm just curious.

Now I can think of 4 possibilities:

1- You thought the price will go back up and so got hold of your Bitcoins --> Very bad decision
2- You couldn't sell them due to the lack of buyers --> Plausible but unlikely
3- You are emotionally attached to your Bitcoins so you don't want to lose them no matter what --> You need a psychologist
4- When you found out about it, it was already too late --> I forgive you

(More reasons are welcome)

Now here's the explanation for the comments I included right after each possibility.

For reason # 1:

This would be a bad decision if you believe the money you could have made by selling high and buying back at a lower price is greater than the transaction costs associated with these two transactions. Let's say for example that transaction costs for trading Bitcoins is at 1% the value of your total transaction; in this case if you sold at 1,200$ which is nearly the value of each Bitcoin at the time of the news and bought back towards 700$, the value at which a Bitcoin became more stable, you would have made = [(500$ - transaction costs) x (the number of Bitcoins traded)], out of thin air.

The only counter-argument to this analysis would be to convince me that it wasn't normal (according to market dynamics) for a Bitcoin to fall for more than 2- 3% after the news (the break-even point at which you would have been indifferent to sell or hold your Bitcoins).

For reason # 2:

This is a plausible reason, and one which I wouldn't argue to much, except for the fact that I believe we have liquid markets for Bitcoins nowadays, and it's always possible to find a sucker who's willing to pay a higher price than market perception for a Bitcoin. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

For reason # 3 & 4:

No comment

I have made a 0.5BTC profit with this downturn when I could have made much more, but I am obviously not as smart as others.

Now, excuse me, I am late to my psychologist appointment. This Bitcoin thing...
newbie
Activity: 27
Merit: 0
December 08, 2013, 06:45:25 PM
I think it's because the last month convinced people that nothing can stop bitcoin from hitting the moon  Roll Eyes
I mean the main debate before the china crash was if bitcoin will reach 100k or 1m$ . It's not easy to sell after that  Tongue

Great so please concentrate with me:

Suppose you start off with 10 Bitcoins, market price is 1,200$
> China announcement is live
> You sell your 10 Bitcoins at 1,200$ each and you pay 120$ transaction fee (1% of total), and end up with: (1200 x 10) - 120 = 11,880$
> 2 Days later price of Bitcoin seems to stabilize at 700$
> With the 11,880$ you made selling your initial Bitcoin, you buy back Bitcoins at 700$ each. So now you'll have 11,880/700 = 16.97 Bitcoins
Remove 1% transaction fees and you'll get 16.8 Bitcoins

WOW! Magic! Guess what, you're 68% wealthier than 2 days ago....

So now couple of years down the line, you'll have 16.8 million dollars worth of Bitcoins instead of only 10 million dollars....

Capich?

What if this v common scenario plays out:

Sell at $1200 as per your plan
Buy back at $700 as per your plan
Price drops further to $300-$400
Now you're waiting another 1 year for price to recover so you can make a profit.

The above scenario happens so many times in Bitcoin to so many people it's not even funny, it's one of the main reasons ppl just buy low and hold.

But, to be fair, you would still end up with more BTC. If price drops to 300 and didn't sell at 1200, you would still have the same amount, and still waiting to make a profit, but when that comes you have more profit.
sr. member
Activity: 252
Merit: 250
December 08, 2013, 06:07:35 PM

Am I missing anything here?

It seems all you want to do is just defend the position of Bitcoin without being rational about it or having an open minded discussion. You believe in Bitcoin, fine that's great! Good for you! I hope you'll get rich because of it. But this topic has nothing to do with what you believe in the long term or about Bitcoin. Right?

Sorry, your topic asked why we didn't sell.  I communicated as such?   If you don't sell because you believe it will be much more than it is today why does that not count?  

Because even if you do believe that it'll be worth more than what it is today you could've still sold at 1,200 and bought back at 700. That's my whole argument.

You're not closing your position in Bitcoin, you're just enhancing your position by taking advantage of volatility.

Well not all people are willing to day trade. Also it's easy to say sell at 1200 after the priced crashed.
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1010
Borsche
December 08, 2013, 05:49:16 PM

Because even if you do believe that it'll be worth more than what it is today you could've still sold at 1,200 and bought back at 700. That's my whole argument.

You're not closing your position in Bitcoin, you're just enhancing your position by taking advantage of volatility.

Maybe we have different definitions of "sold", but it is closing your position, albeit temporarily. Way too often this ends up badly, like for example closing your position on this last runup when 300 was considered "too high", would have been a money-losing mistake since you'd be buying back in higher. This things happen, and you need to remember - there never was a bad time to buy bitcoins (so far), but there were very many bad times to sell at prices which are not coming back anymore.
full member
Activity: 198
Merit: 100
December 08, 2013, 05:04:44 PM
I did not sell at 1200 because its a pita to get money in and out of the market. The damn week long wait for coinbase to fund my account.

I'm in it for the long term .
legendary
Activity: 1414
Merit: 1000
December 08, 2013, 04:48:05 PM

Am I missing anything here?

It seems all you want to do is just defend the position of Bitcoin without being rational about it or having an open minded discussion. You believe in Bitcoin, fine that's great! Good for you! I hope you'll get rich because of it. But this topic has nothing to do with what you believe in the long term or about Bitcoin. Right?

Sorry, your topic asked why we didn't sell.  I communicated as such?   If you don't sell because you believe it will be much more than it is today why does that not count?  

Because even if you do believe that it'll be worth more than what it is today you could've still sold at 1,200 and bought back at 700. That's my whole argument.

You're not closing your position in Bitcoin, you're just enhancing your position by taking advantage of volatility.

There is correction now. Put ALL YOUR money into Bitcoin and then give advices. It is quite different to play with YOUR OWN money.
full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 100
December 08, 2013, 04:46:10 PM


Because even if you do believe that it'll be worth more than what it is today you could've still sold at 1,200 and bought back at 700. That's my whole argument.

You're not closing your position in Bitcoin, you're just enhancing your position by taking advantage of volatility.

IC.   In that case I did not sell because I am a horrible guesser and I figure it will go back up and over anyway.   I did buy more though.   And if it would just drop again I might buy even more Smiley.   FWIW, your post came across a bit differently which may be why some people are riled up.

newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
December 08, 2013, 04:41:45 PM

Am I missing anything here?

It seems all you want to do is just defend the position of Bitcoin without being rational about it or having an open minded discussion. You believe in Bitcoin, fine that's great! Good for you! I hope you'll get rich because of it. But this topic has nothing to do with what you believe in the long term or about Bitcoin. Right?

Sorry, your topic asked why we didn't sell.  I communicated as such?   If you don't sell because you believe it will be much more than it is today why does that not count?  

Because even if you do believe that it'll be worth more than what it is today you could've still sold at 1,200 and bought back at 700. That's my whole argument.

You're not closing your position in Bitcoin, you're just enhancing your position by taking advantage of volatility.
legendary
Activity: 2338
Merit: 2106
December 08, 2013, 04:41:18 PM
it sure does look easy afterwards. but when you are heavy into bitcoin you may believe your financial wealth is stored here. probably not only for you but for your family and even some generations down. the only place to keep that is cold storage.

every other day you come across some news that could signal "the end of bitcoin" and every other day price volatiles up and down more than 20 %. if you don´t learn to NOT TOUCH YOUR COLD STORAGE every time you feel tempted, it will be gone soon.

for many this happened. others resisted the temptation, and those are the ones who still have their coins. op, you are actually asking us why we do what is the only thing that worked for us.

would you really gamble with the wealth of your future by putting it on an exchange that you cannot know for sure it is still there tomorrow? those exchanges are companies. they can vanish, be hacked, steal your coins, they can be seized, whatever....

furthermore, it is completely nervewrecking to try to find tops and bottoms. we have all been there, done that. succeeded, thought we figured it all out but one fucked up moment there is this wrong decision and here go some coins down the drain and that hurts much more than losing dollars.

my personal strategy is keeping 5% of my coins on an exchange. just to have something to "play" with when temptation gets overwhelming. in this crash i started to panic (sudden fear that it would be like 2011 with years for recovery) and went to 20 %  - but the most i have touched was 10 %.  

i have a friend who actually played an important role in my personal discovery of bitcoin. is argues like you: it´s is so easy to increase your bitcoin holdings with all this volatility - just buy low, sell high, rinse, repeat... easy. i always tell him i don´t see it being easy. he thinks i am stupid i guess. i asked him how many coins he has. the answer was: none.


full member
Activity: 168
Merit: 100
December 08, 2013, 04:37:09 PM

Am I missing anything here?

It seems all you want to do is just defend the position of Bitcoin without being rational about it or having an open minded discussion. You believe in Bitcoin, fine that's great! Good for you! I hope you'll get rich because of it. But this topic has nothing to do with what you believe in the long term or about Bitcoin. Right?

Sorry, your topic asked why we didn't sell.  I communicated as such?   If you don't sell because you believe it will be much more than it is today why does that not count? 
legendary
Activity: 3248
Merit: 1070
December 08, 2013, 04:36:11 PM
#99
i didn't sell, cuz there wasn't any guarantee that the price was falling

it easy to speak when thing already happened
newbie
Activity: 42
Merit: 0
December 08, 2013, 04:33:56 PM
#98
Most of us have been where the OP is wondering how no one is seeing what we are seeing.

Then we try.... sure we catch a few get trades but after a few months we realize that we would be near the same place if we had done nothing besides buying and holding

OK, I admit I am being a bit harsh on OP.

Here is the thing the question as its phrased is black and white. OP suggests you can predict where the top is (or near enough), that you can know that after that top there will be a significant enough selloff such that it was worth selling, that you can predict where the short term bottom is (or near enough) to be able to rebuy. He fails to see that if this doesn't go 100% to plan then you could very well end up in a worse position, and fails to see just how unlikely it is that it will go 100% to plan.

All that stuff seems pretty obvious to me, which is why I get a bit cranky when people suggesting not selling is a bad decision, because there was some outside chance that I could have profited from a lucky trade.


I forgive you.

Thing is, we all agree the market dynamics of a Bitcoin is very different than that of stocks in a mature market. Right?

Here's something that is obviously happening to Bitcoin value: It is so volatile that its value is changing by a magnitude of 40 - 50% to either negative or positive news. Right?

My argument was that volatility is something that can be taken advantage of, which is in the scenario I have proposed.

I gave other reasons as to why this scenario would not work, but it seems you guys dismissed all of them and only focused on the initial one.  

Most of you told me that you either couldn't find a seller or that you were afraid you couldn't buy it back. Well guess what that satisfies the second scenario I've laid down which suggest that market illiquidity could be a factor.

Some other said because you can't predict. Well there's nothing to predict here. I clearly said "after the news came out", is there any prediction to be made here? value of a Bitcoin was certainly going down. That's like a company announcing that it didn't meet its targets for a specific quarter. In how many directions could its stock value go right after the news? ONLY ONE --> Down

Am I missing anything here?

It seems all you want to do is just defend the position of Bitcoin without being rational about it or having an open minded discussion. You believe in Bitcoin, fine that's great! Good for you! I hope you'll get rich because of it. But this topic has nothing to do with what you believe in the long term or about Bitcoin. Right?
member
Activity: 61
Merit: 10
December 08, 2013, 04:29:53 PM
#97
I guarantee you won't end up with more everytime. If you truly think you can be my guest, nobody cares to hear you brag without anything to show for it. I'm sure that the majority of people here have more coins then you. There are whales that can move the market anyway they want, what will you do then? Cry?

Of course you'll get more coins with "your method"( Roll Eyes), but you also risk having less coins. Plus you have to pay capital gains.

I already made a good amount daytrading alt-coins and i'm just going to sit back for a little. Life is fun sometimes too. I'm sure i'll trade more in the future, for now I’m just buying.

How about you stick to your strategy and not be a dick while doing it, capiche?
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