Post
Topic
Board Speculation
Re: Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion
by
oda.krell
on 26/02/2014, 14:17:09 UTC

Fact is, the *exact* same argument ("this will scare away new investors!") was made in September last year when Silk Road was taken down.

The *exact* same argument was made when price dropped sharply from ~260 to ~60 in April last year.

In either of those cases, nothing like that happened. In case of SR, it was particularly stunning how the brief flash crash (that did happen as a result of the news) revealed a solid underlying buying pressure that was lying dormant until then. It started the rally that led to the December ATH, in fact.

Please note what I am saying vs. what I am *not* saying: I don't claim to know whether the bear market just reversed. Just that looking at an "objectively bad" news item and concluding it will negatively affect price will get you nowhere in market analysis. It's simply not how the human mind seems to work, collectively: any event is interpreted in a highly contextual framework. And right now, I would be careful to conclude that the result of that interpretation is going to greatly depress price (see, e.g., the very solid recovery to ~600, or the huge jump in USD on the Bitstamp order book)

You are comparing the demise of an tor drug market to the demise of one of the biggest exchanges with the biggest holdings?




I will refrain from pointing out that you only joined a few months after the SR crash, if you promise me to go back and read a thread or two back from those days:

At the time of the SR closure, the absolutely *dominant* sentiment among the pundits in here was that it will greatly depress price. Anyone who said differently was shouted down. Took a few days, and that sentiment very clearly changed.

So, to translate it to the current day situation: yes, I compare the two events in the sense that, at face value, you might naively say "oh, it's going to keep price down for months to come".

In reality, it will probably throw price down for some days, maybe weeks. And then, gradually, it'll be seen differently, as extremely good news.

Just a few of those reasons, just from the top of my head: (1) the formerly largest exchange was run amateurishly, and was punished accordingly. (2) cheap mtgox coins that would have otherwise flooded the market are now unavailable to arbitrage down the price. (3) Mtgox investors will look to "replace" their coins (not all of them, of course. But those who *do* want to replace them will have to buy them again.