Bitcoin is practically a toxic asset now with markets like this:
This market has turned full blown scam.
Price up 1.6% from pre-ETF decision pump of $1200? Not down....not even 5% down...but UP instead? LOL. If there was any exchange on earth besides Bitfinex being the market leader to determine price world-wide, I might let it slide, but we're talking about the second coming of Mt Gox here - an exchange that already appeared to be naked shorting their own customers during the halving, admittedly traded on their own exchange while knowing where all margin positiosn are, probably traded with customer funds too, and then ranomly out of the blue stole something like $70 million of bitcoin from customers.
Is this a dream? How does Bitfinex STILL control the world-wide price of bitcoin while being completely insolvent and still owing customers something like $60 million dollars???
A toxic asset is precisely what Bitcoin is. None of the major markets can be trusted and the vast majority of the Bitcoin are in very few hands, thus the market is cornered and controlled.
With that said. Whilst Bitcoins are in my view, worthless, the price action is the price action.
Do I think that 'they' are going to drive Bitcoin higher? For Sure! Fast profits to be had for shark traders with the stomach to tolerate the by now massive downside risk, but for anyone thinking about investing in Bitcoin for their retirement or kiddies college fund, i.e., the true believers, these people are going to get absolutely fucking slaughtered. When this worthless Chinese controlled flawed, bloated, manipulated digital token fails, it will fail very quickly.
To answer 'Ted E Bare':
In June 2016, I was correct to not want to buy Bitcoin, as significant downside was yet to come. Little was I to know that the downside target would be reached with news of the so called Bitfinex hacks. In Sept 2016, with Bitcoin in the $500 range, I called $1500 Bitcoin. Look back in this thread. It is there in black and white. I also stated that after having two Bitcoin accounts plundered, with the most likely culpritts being rats within the exchanges themselves, that I was finished trading, holding, and investing in Bitcoin, because aside from the entire Bitcoin sphere being utterly toxic and corrupt, Bitcoin is in the grander scheme of things, absolutely fucking worthless. Gold is real wealth. Bitcoin may cost more than an Oz of gold at the moment, but over the test of time, gold will always be valued as wealth whereas Bitcoin's destiny is to be revealed as the vapour that it really is.
A grand idea perhaps, but also the definition of a prototype.