Mt.Gox is the main reason of the current raise in bitcoin price.
As Mt.Gox users have difficulty cashing out dollars, the only option they have is to convert those dollars to bitcoin (buy bitcoins on Mt Gox), or risk loosing all the money. At the same time spread they spread panic on forums, so a large quantity of people who have funds in MtGox in form of dollars, is currently trying to buy bitcoins on Mt. Gox, making the price raise.
That is also the reason Mt. Gox bitcoin price is much higher than other markets.
The good thing for a currency is to have a stable value. This is certainly not a good thing for people that want Bitcoins to be actually used instead of just stockpiled.
I find myself wanting to get into the bitcoin speculation game, if only nominally with some small denomination (say 0.1 BTC or something). Can anybody else speak to or give advice on getting over the creepiness factor of finding and using an exchange? Are some more reputable than others? Places like MtGox don't inspire confidence and the physical location of many exchanges gives me concerns about them in the event of some kind of dispute.
I feel like if I were to do business with an exchange, I'd need to start a whole new bank account just to do it to keep my real account info hidden away from exchanges and potential bad actors. Is this a completely irrational feeling to have?
If you want to keep things simple and maintain your privacy, you should check out services like BitQuick (http://www.bitquick.co) and Blue Sky Traders (http://ok2yri46aaptiu2d.onion). These services allow you to buy bitcoins by simply depositing cash into someone else's bank account. No ID required or anything. There's another similar service called http://www.cashintocoins.com, but I don't have any experience with them and they're apparently having issues with their SSL certificate right now.
Even if you do want to use an exchange in order to rapidly trade your coins and profit from price dips, depositing coins into an exchange is a lot easier and possibly more anonymous than depositing dollars.
Then if you decide to sell the coins, you can move them off the exchange and offer them on localbitcoins.com for physical cash.
MtGox is having its troubles right now. I've used CampBX and Coinbase reliably without any problems about a year ago. I can't speak to the withdrawal process though, other than to say I wouldn't do it through MtGox anytime soon.
There's enough liquidity in the top exchanges that discrepancies in sell-prices from one exchange to another are indicative of people's trust in being able to withdraw their money from that particular exchange.
You'll have to evaluate which exchange you want to use for each of these three actions:
1) buying
2) holding (exchanges are targets for hackers whereas with a private wallet you can be hacked, or you can be virused, or you can lose it of your own fault)
I'd recommend LocalBitcoins. Had a transaction completed within 15 minutes of my first visit. No hoops to jump through and there's a feedback and escrow system in place. Maybe a less lucrative option in the US where you've got more choice.
All the legitimate exchanges require identity verification (passport etc.). If you want to trade without revealing your identity you'll have a difficult time, but you can try localbitcoins.com for trading in person.
As the exchange rate rises buying Bitcoin will become ever more tempting. For those who haven't bought any Bitcoin yet do you think it's a good idea to commit now, Odysseus-style, to not buy Bitcoin as an investment for N years?
Edit: What I mean by "commitment" is that you absolutely won't invest in Bitcoin during that time no matter what happens to the exchange rate.
The boring answer is no one knows. My personal theory is that within a few years, either Bitcoin will be worth a lot (5 digits?) or it will be worth nothing.
I'm not a Bitcoin enthusiast, so coming at this from a pessimistic angle, it's increasingly starting to look like Bitcoin is here to stay. That still doesn't make it a good investment for 99.99% of people (nor does any poorly understood asset managed by an amateur!)
I feel that it is obviously definitely not a good time to buy Bitcoin as it is at a peak in a speculative bubble. But additionally the world's largest exchange of Bitcoin (the magic the gathering online exchange) isn't allowing anyone to cash out. You are put on a waiting list.
So to actually cash out you need to visit that one ATM in Vancouver, which gives you access to $1000/day if there's money in it. Or you need to sell your Bitcoin to someone or buy something with them.
I don't know if it's because I have given up coffee or what, but this post just rubbed me the wrong way for at least three reasons.
Mt.Gox is not the world's largest exchange: most would agree that BTC China is, and possibly Bitstamp is coming in second.
Mt.Gox is called Mt.Gox. It used to stand for Magic the Gathering Online Exchange. It does not anymore. Whatever your thoughts on the site, you have to at least give them the fact that you can no longer exchange MtG cards on the site, so that is no longer their market. They kept the name and pivoted what they do. If you can't handle people pivoting on HN of all places, good luck. Or maybe you're the kind of person that refers to LG as "that cheap ass Lucky Goldstar" too?
Finally, Mt.Gox is definitely experiencing delays for North American withdrawals, and to a lesser (?) extent Europe. However they're not 'not allowing' anyone to cash out. I have no doubt, for example, that in Japan it's all good... their problems are with their bank.
Anyway, hate on BTC and Mt.Gox for whatever reasons you want... but surely if your going to use reasons to persuade people away from something, you should at least use truth?
Mt.Gox doesn't stand for "Magic the Gathering Online Exchange"? Why are you saying I don't like LG? So when I said that when you try to withdraw funds you are prevented from doing so and put on a waiting list, that is correct?
Mt. Gox used to stand for that. It no longer does. There is a very distinct difference.
I didn't say that you didn't like LG, I asked if you still referred to it as Lucky Goldstar? My point was that LG used to stand for 'Lucky Goldstar'. Now, it is the actual name. QANTAS used to stand for 'Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services'. Now, it is the actual name. In the same vein, Mt. Gox used to stand for 'Magic the Gathering Online Exchange'. Now, it is the actual name.
Further to that, you referred to the site as 'the magic the gathering online exchange'. This is obviously not true anymore: it literally cannot be used to exchange MtG cards anymore. You cannot deny that they pivoted from exchanging MtG cards to exchanging Bitcoins, and calling it something that it obviously is not anymore is wrong.
Finally, when you said that "when you try to withdraw funds you are prevented from doing so and put on a waiting list" that is not correct. You are not prevented from doing so. Your request is processed and queued... just because that queue takes way too long for a lot of people doesn't mean it was prevented. Just like when I transfer money from one account to another and it is queued and processed over night doesn't mean it was prevented. Thankfully, however, that overnight queue is processed a lot faster than a transfer from Mt. Gox. But again, there was nothing stopping me from initiating it.
Also, just to add to what I said in my original reply, there are no doubt a lot of people in the world that are not having delayed processing at all... they just don't happen to live in the USA.
Don't get me wrong: I definitely think that there are issues with Mt. Gox in particular that are worrying. However, I would point to those things instead of mentioning things that actually aren't true. And when I point to them, I would point to them as problems with an exchange itself, as opposed to using those points to say "None of these are good reasons to buy Bitcoin".
I'm no currency expert, but if these exchanges aren't liquid enough and some of them queue up payouts like they do, wouldn't that contribute to a bubble in the price? More money going into the commodity and the outflow of money artificially limited? I get interested in buying in every now and again and am totally creeped out by the general shady nature of every exchange.
Mt.Gox is the main reason of the current raise in bitcoin price.
As Mt.Gox users have difficulty cashing out dollars, the only option they have is to convert those dollars to bitcoin (buy bitcoins on Mt Gox), or risk loosing all the money. At the same time spread they spread panic on forums, so a large quantity of people who have funds in MtGox in form of dollars, is currently trying to buy bitcoins on Mt. Gox, making the price raise.
That is also the reason Mt. Gox bitcoin price is much higher than other markets.
Whilst I agree with your last point (the cause for the spread between MtGox and other markets), I think it's unlikely it's driving the overall price.
It seems like the huge spike in Bitcoin trading in China (Btcchina just become the biggest exchange by trading volume) and the usual story of speculation is probably more likely.
Glad to hear good things about coinbase. I've been waiting for them to send the 2 small transactions to my bank-acct so they can verify it and I can buy bitcoins. I started the verification process on Tuesday. I also like their paper-wallet option so I don't have to worry about online hacks after buying the coins.
By saying the value is volatile, it admits the chance of increasingly quickly but also the chance of decreasing quickly.
With the benefit of hindsight, it's very easy to see which happened, but this doesn't necessarily make something a good investment if you think it is volatile.
If there was no risk associated with buying Bitcoin, its value would have already stabilised.
If you have enough information you can make educated guesses about where the market will go. I've been following Bitcoin since 2011 so my predictions are accurate enough to invest.
The FBI is holding 1.5% of all the volume right now, consigned. So just decreases the flow. My guess is the price will go up until Mr Ulrich has bee found guilty. At that point they'll cash out, and the spiral downward will start. My guess is 30$ the end of 2014, I might put some money on that if there was a reliable and reputable derivatives market.
If bitcoins are going to be used for anything at all, the rise in value is likely to continue for a while longer. One can argue, and I might agree, that the velocity of money is greater in the bitcoin economy, but I still think the small size of the bitcoin economy (little over $5 000 000 000 atm) is limiting.
Jeez you made me do a doubletake! You know there is a log option! Damn I look stupid now, haha.
So you were only asking for extended data? Does the all time option have enough for you? I don't think Gox traded back past the data bitcoincharts have on record.
No worries. I'm curious to see data past what bitcoincharts.com offers. If you look at their three years of data on a log scale, there's a very clear trendline with gains of 6x to 10x per year.
