Quote from: mizike29 on July 08, 2011, 03:11:35 PM

I guess it is just the price change then that messes it up for me, to where its not a bitcoin is worth a bitcoin like a dollar is worth a dollar. I know for so long ya know I can buy a candybar for a dollar, and probably get some change back depending on if its 1990 or 2011 but still pretty damn close, where months ago a bitcoin was nothing, then it was worth 30 bux, then hit 9 bux, then 12, now 15, stablizing in the 12 to 15 range now so its just a bitcoin can not buy the same thing today as it can say tomorrow or next week. Thats the part that messes me up I guess, is how quick the value is changing daily.

This is a speculative market that is thinly traded. Things tend to bounce around a lot. This is common with a lot of speculative assets that don't have much liquidity.

Not only is Bitcoin being priced based on how much people want to use it today, but on how much people might want to use it in the future. No one knows the future, and the past is quite short, so a lot of people are betting in lots of different ways. If you think Bitcoin becomes in 10 years huge 1% of the time, a moderate failure 95%, and a complete failure 4%, it still might make sense to buy them at $15 each. Some people have shorter terms they want to look at, and even then it has to be based on what people will think in the future. There is lots of uncertainty. There are lots of people who didn't even know what a Bitcoin was a year ago. There are also lots of amateurs who have never invested in anything before, but now find themselves in possession of something that could be worth as much as a house. They don't know what they are doing and will screw up a lot too.

Then there is the criminal element with scams, thieves, and other attacks on the network. All of those play a big factor.

So the price is fluctuating. Eventually, information will give us a price that accounts for all of such things. As new information comes out, that price may change, but there are enough incentives in place that will eventually keep it from changing too drastically too fast unless something catastrophic happens. I wish I could tell you what that price would be, if so, I could be rich.