well.. btc moving really slowly now cos what happens today and probably tomorrow will decide whether we go below 350 or not. Personally I think we are going sub 300..
a drop in price might be a good thing for miners. difficulty charts are showing a kind of unsureness in miners commitments, it's neither up nor down if you study it closely. we could be looking at a nice drop in difficulty if the price does drop to $300. I don't mind either way to be honest, but it's interesting times you must admit.
Not if you factor in your electricity charges, you might suddenly end up paying more bills then what you get..
That is.. if the only reason to mine is to sell the BTC as you mine it.
I shouldn't go into the discussion on electric costs as I am more fortunate than most, but factoring in electric costs is indeed part of the prospecting of the currency.
look at it this way: BTC is 25 coins per block (phase 2)... before too long, that block reward is going to halve. Currently, it's the age of the corporate miner and because of this, prices are going to be suppressed until mining returns back to the enthusiast. I do this because i'm an enthusiast and a hobbyist, I don't do it to make a monthly income. I'd urge that others think similarly - if you are mining with the most efficient h/w then you should still have some BTC left over after the electric costs are covered. Now is not a time to cash-in on every satoshi you mine, now is a time to hoard whatever you can.
I know this is a very subjective question and that thee have been numerous debates here about it. However, in your opinion what price does bitcoin have to drop to before the average hobbyist miner with the most efficient h/w is mining at a loss?