I guess I'm not the only one who became interested in bitcoins even though I never really had any interest in the stock market, gambling or anything else like that.<p>So for someone coming from the stock market, for example, how does speculating in bitcoins differ from say stocks? Day trading? The future of bitcoins? I'm just curious how this whole thing looks from their perspective.<p>I can imagine they see some familiar patters in both the behavior of new speculators and the value of the trading instrument it self. Just like an older programmer can se behavioral patters in new programmers in terms of how they think of code, why they go with a certain new cool framework, etc. Maybe it's just a strange comparison, I don't know.<p>Discuss.
Day trading isn't really possible with Bitcoin imho. Of course you can trade, but trying to apply traditional analysis methods is useless. There are 2 good reasons for this:<p>1) the volume is (still) very low, and a lot of wealth is in the hands of just a few people, meaning that they can single-handedly let the market crash.<p>2) most of the people who have bitcoins don't even have experience with trading, yet they're trying to trade. This results in a very, very unpredictable market because a lot of people will panic sell and take unlogical steps that a professional trader would never take. It also means that the price is mostly driven by hype, not by any fundament.<p>I think most traders will stay away from bitcoin untill it's a bit more stable. Personally I'm very bullish, and I'm in with 3.2 BTC, but just don't expect that your knowledge of trading is applicable to bitcoin trading, it's very different.
They laugh at it of course. What else can you do about a "currency" invented by an unknown entity, loved by videogamers and whose total circulation is below the GDP of mongolia?
I talked to my cousin, a hedge fund partner, about this over thanksgiving. He said that he thinks that it has a chance, and it's something that people and governments have been looking for. If governments just keep printing money with no limits and no end in sight, why should people continue to keep solid faith in those currencies?<p>He did say that most of his co-workers don't necessarily agree, but some are hedging their bets