Bitcoins in 2014?

[julian]

I think we're in danger of going full retard here with comparing paypal & bitcoin.

I think there are some generational issues with digital/crypto currency acceptance thing. Also I think in the future, generations in some countries will be skipping 'paper' money altogether.

 

[Murray]

I think there are some generational issues with digital/crypto currency acceptance thing. Also I think in the future, generations in some countries will be skipping 'paper' money altogether.

You know at schools now in the UK (not sure what %) children pay for their lunches with their finger prints.

If I had a child I wouldn't want them giving the school their finger prints..

My old secondary school has put up massive fences since I left, it looks more like a prison now.

That is where things are heading.

 

[Skinner]

Its a case of perspective, for me bitcoins are more akin to paypal... mashed up with a stocks and shares isa, so you can interest or you can lose. I don't see it as an investment so maybe my view is over simplistic.

Edit: I'll go with Julian, I'll go full retard, served me well so far

 

[Murray]

I'm now the proud owner of 1 bitcoin

It will never see the light of day again until it's either worth nothing or a lot (or someone manages to steal it)

 

[Retired_Member38]

I want to buy 30 Bitcoins, I'll pay Bitstamp rate (converted on xe.com) by international bank transfer (account held in £ though so no conversion charges).

Anyone interested in cashing a few in? Minimum amount is 1 whole bitcoin.

cheers

 

[scottmccloud]

"The government is to explore the role that digital currencies such as Bitcoin could play in the financial system and whether they need to be regulated."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28670414

 

[bonusmedia]

Some news piece about this latest drop caught my eye today and I noticed there are apparently major differences between the prices on different exchanges.

Has anyone got any insight on why that is? Why aren't arbitrage players evening it out?

I have no idea what will happen to the long term price, wouldn't want to 'invest', but I do like a bit of arbitrage.

I wonder if there is a way to have a crack at this without too much exposure?

 

[Sound]

Some news piece about this latest drop caught my eye today and I noticed there are apparently major differences between the prices on different exchanges.

Has anyone got any insight on why that is? Why aren't arbitrage players evening it out?

I have no idea what will happen to the long term price, wouldn't want to 'invest', but I do like a bit of arbitrage.

I wonder if there is a way to have a crack at this without too much exposure?

do any of the spread betting firms let you spread bet against price movement as this would be one way.

 

[SF]

Wow just noticed 1BTC = £282.5O

Thats a drop of £100 in about 2 weeks

 

[Murray]

Wow just noticed 1BTC = £282.5O

Thats a drop of £100 in about 2 weeks

Was about £360

Was down to £275 at times I think yesterday

Good time to get in

I might get another .5

 

[SF]

I was just thinking about you Murray you bought one a few weeks back didnt you, I was going to aswell but I owed Frank to much lol

Glad i waited

 

[Murray]

I was just thinking about you Murray you bought one a few weeks back didnt you, I was going to aswell but I owed Frank to much lol

Glad i waited

Yeah I got one at £360

I'm treating it as a long term gamble so not too fussed about the weekly ups and downs

More interested to see what it will be like in a few years

But if they drop much more I might be tempted to get more than another .5

 

[Retired_Member38]

I still don't think there is much room for any middle ground - this game ends with bit coins either worth single digits, or multiple thousands.

Of course you want to buy as cheap as you can.... but I wouldn't worry about it too much - you're either going to make a lot of money or lose all of it. Whether you bought at $450 or $600 isn't going to change that.

 

[bonusmedia]

do any of the spread betting firms let you spread bet against price movement as this would be one way.

I don't want to gamble on movements, I want to exploit the difference in prices at different exchanges. Don't think the companies offering leverage give prices for different exchanges.

 

[RobM]

The trouble with using prices across different exchanges is simply volume. It only took me 7 days to double my bank moving coins across networks but the amount of work involved was probably more than the bitcoin value. This was due to lack of volume - it's all very well doubling your $10 to $20 in one transaction but in most cases there were only people buying a few dollars or selling a few dollars worth of coins. I went back to forex which is slightly less profitable but never any problem getting matched.

 

[Retired_Member38]

I don't want to gamble on movements, I want to exploit the difference in prices at different exchanges. Don't think the companies offering leverage give prices for different exchanges.

Can't remember if I mentioned this here or elsewhere and can't be bothered reading through all the pages again to see...


The easiest / most risk free way to do this appears to be taking advantage of the pricing difference between Bitstamp and LocalBitcoins. Its going to require a bit of start up capital to do to any level worth doing though as if you try it for £100 here and there the bank wire fees are going to wipe out any potential profit.

Bitstamp price right now to buy = $484
Locabitcoins price right now to sell = £311

So lets say you start with a float of 10 bit coins. You'd also need to have dollars on Bitstamp ready to immediately place further orders.

List coins for sale on Localbitcoins. If you sell a coin for £311, immediately get on Bitstamp and buy another one for $484. So using xe.com exchange rate, you sold for £311 and immediately replaced it for £290.

The fees are relatively low - 1% and 0.5% or something, so under £5. Lets just assume a fiver... so you made £16 from the transaction.

There are some risks - selling on LBC and then buying on Bitstamp won't be instant. So there might be some fluctuations between your two transactions. These should generally cancel each other out and you can obviously minimise it by placing the trades within seconds of each other.

The other thing is the Bitstamp rate changes 'live', its constantly moving. So you'd need to stay on top of your LBC orders as a price movement could leave you forced to complete an order and then buy it back for the same or less. I'm not a seller on LBC so I don't know if they have any automated tools to match the price up or whatever. If not then you realistically need someone to check in multiple times per hour... it could all be done from an iPad or phone though.

The other risk is either Bistamp or LBC go scam or get hacked - you'd need to leave some coins for trading on LBC and some funds for instant buys on Bitstamp so there is some risk level with that.

Also the other risk is in the pricing of your float - if you buy 10 bit coins to start this off today at $4840, make £1000 trading in a month and the Bitcoin price drops 25%, you've basically lost all of your trading profit. Of course this goes the other way too, you could end up making more money from holding the float than you actually made trading. If you're already holding Bitcoins anyway then you can just ignore this paragraph as you'd have made/lost that amount whether you traded or not...

I've no idea what sort of volume you can do with this though - I really have no idea whether you'd end up struggling to make minimum wage or whether you'd earn a real nice income from it.

 

[ChrisMM]

Just looking at localbitcoins right now.

You can buy a bitcoin in London for cash £280. And sell a bitcoin in London, again for cash £585.

I think sidestepping the online payment is far more profitable. Bitcoin delivery drivers?

 

[bonusmedia]

Thanks for that. I might have a play with it

Can't remember if I mentioned this here or elsewhere and can't be bothered reading through all the pages again to see...


The easiest / most risk free way to do this appears to be taking advantage of the pricing difference between Bitstamp and LocalBitcoins. Its going to require a bit of start up capital to do to any level worth doing though as if you try it for £100 here and there the bank wire fees are going to wipe out any potential profit.

Bitstamp price right now to buy = $484
Locabitcoins price right now to sell = £311

So lets say you start with a float of 10 bit coins. You'd also need to have dollars on Bitstamp ready to immediately place further orders.

List coins for sale on Localbitcoins. If you sell a coin for £311, immediately get on Bitstamp and buy another one for $484. So using xe.com exchange rate, you sold for £311 and immediately replaced it for £290.

The fees are relatively low - 1% and 0.5% or something, so under £5. Lets just assume a fiver... so you made £16 from the transaction.

There are some risks - selling on LBC and then buying on Bitstamp won't be instant. So there might be some fluctuations between your two transactions. These should generally cancel each other out and you can obviously minimise it by placing the trades within seconds of each other.

The other thing is the Bitstamp rate changes 'live', its constantly moving. So you'd need to stay on top of your LBC orders as a price movement could leave you forced to complete an order and then buy it back for the same or less. I'm not a seller on LBC so I don't know if they have any automated tools to match the price up or whatever. If not then you realistically need someone to check in multiple times per hour... it could all be done from an iPad or phone though.

The other risk is either Bistamp or LBC go scam or get hacked - you'd need to leave some coins for trading on LBC and some funds for instant buys on Bitstamp so there is some risk level with that.

Also the other risk is in the pricing of your float - if you buy 10 bit coins to start this off today at $4840, make £1000 trading in a month and the Bitcoin price drops 25%, you've basically lost all of your trading profit. Of course this goes the other way too, you could end up making more money from holding the float than you actually made trading. If you're already holding Bitcoins anyway then you can just ignore this paragraph as you'd have made/lost that amount whether you traded or not...

I've no idea what sort of volume you can do with this though - I really have no idea whether you'd end up struggling to make minimum wage or whether you'd earn a real nice income from it.

 

[Retired_Member42]

Can't remember if I mentioned this here or elsewhere and can't be bothered reading through all the pages again to see...


The easiest / most risk free way to do this appears to be taking advantage of the pricing difference between Bitstamp and LocalBitcoins. Its going to require a bit of start up capital to do to any level worth doing though as if you try it for £100 here and there the bank wire fees are going to wipe out any potential profit.

Bitstamp price right now to buy = $484
Locabitcoins price right now to sell = £311

So lets say you start with a float of 10 bit coins. You'd also need to have dollars on Bitstamp ready to immediately place further orders.

List coins for sale on Localbitcoins. If you sell a coin for £311, immediately get on Bitstamp and buy another one for $484. So using xe.com exchange rate, you sold for £311 and immediately replaced it for £290.

The fees are relatively low - 1% and 0.5% or something, so under £5. Lets just assume a fiver... so you made £16 from the transaction.

There are some risks - selling on LBC and then buying on Bitstamp won't be instant. So there might be some fluctuations between your two transactions. These should generally cancel each other out and you can obviously minimise it by placing the trades within seconds of each other.

The other thing is the Bitstamp rate changes 'live', its constantly moving. So you'd need to stay on top of your LBC orders as a price movement could leave you forced to complete an order and then buy it back for the same or less. I'm not a seller on LBC so I don't know if they have any automated tools to match the price up or whatever. If not then you realistically need someone to check in multiple times per hour... it could all be done from an iPad or phone though.

The other risk is either Bistamp or LBC go scam or get hacked - you'd need to leave some coins for trading on LBC and some funds for instant buys on Bitstamp so there is some risk level with that.

Also the other risk is in the pricing of your float - if you buy 10 bit coins to start this off today at $4840, make £1000 trading in a month and the Bitcoin price drops 25%, you've basically lost all of your trading profit. Of course this goes the other way too, you could end up making more money from holding the float than you actually made trading. If you're already holding Bitcoins anyway then you can just ignore this paragraph as you'd have made/lost that amount whether you traded or not...

I've no idea what sort of volume you can do with this though - I really have no idea whether you'd end up struggling to make minimum wage or whether you'd earn a real nice income from it.

 

[RobM]

Wow way to ignore the obvious problem. Bitcoin *might* make 2 to 3 figures a week. Other ways make 4 to 5 figures a week. It's all there.