Topic Wiki

Editor’s note: I know enough about this topic to be dangerous, but I’m not a true expert so please feel free to add to or edit anything in this wiki that will improve it. The FAQs contain many oversimplifications but that is intentional to make the information relatable to the audience. Thanks!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are blockchains and bitcoins and what is the difference?
A blockchain is the fundamental element in a crypto currency system. A blockchain is an accounting ledger. Each block contains a bunch of journal entries (i.e. a chronological record of transactions) that gets encrypted (by miners) but can be downloaded and read by anyone on the network. Why the blockchain ledger is secure and how we can vouch for its integrity is a slightly more advanced topic.

An accounting ledger typically keeps track of money, and a blockchain is no different. But the only type of money that it can accurately track is digital money that lives on the blockchain network. So dollars, euros, etc are out. The digital money that lives on the blockchain is called a crypto currency, and the most well-known one at this time is Bitcoin.

Currently there are a few major blockchain networks: the Bitcoin Network, the Ethereum Network, and the Litecoin Network. Each one has its own currency, which are Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin, respectively.

I’m just a simple DDFer and not an accountant + cryptographer + hacker all at the same time. Can you make this a little simpler to understand?
Let’s try an analogy. There is a certain website called Dansdeals.com and it has quite a following. Some of the followers are just users/readers but others are more active and produce value for the website. When they provide value, they earn currency for their work – called “EQP” and “HT”. So we have something we will call the Dansdeals Blockchain Network that is simply a record keeper of various ongoing deals and it issues a native currency that is fractionable (10,000 EQP = 1 HT). This is similar to the Blockchain network recording financial transactions and issuing bitcoins. The ones who work for the network (miners) earn bitcoins and everyone else needs to buy it to participate.

The analogy improves if you imagine that the Dansdeals website visitors have to pay a small amount, let’s say 5 EQP, in order to access a deal or a code that is recorded on the network. If the website has 30,000 followers who love deals, but only 1,000 active members who earn EQP, then you can see that there is a need for a marketplace to be created where you can buy EQP for later use.

Of course, websites are not networks, and this analogy is far from perfect. But useful.

How much is a Bitcoin worth
No one knows. A few people are speculating its worth based on the potential that Bitcoin will one day become a major world currency that people use in their daily lives. Most people though are speculating its worth based on what the next new investor will pay them for it (google “Greater Fool Investing”).

Even if a crypto currency becomes dominant, who says it will be Bitcoin? Maybe it will be Schmitcoin?
This is completely possible. Bitcoin and Ether are the most likely at this point, but their long term survival is not at all guaranteed.

So why all the fuss about Bitcoin? Shouldn’t we wait for Schmitcoin and its cousins to come out?
You could, but you don’t want to ignore how hard it is to start up a network from scratch. It may be that as little as one person can create rival code to compete with the existing digital currencies and blockchains, but one person is not a network. You need a lot of highly technical and motivated people to join you and also to invest their time, energy, and money in making that network run. It’s a highly specialized group of people, and most of the people who would fit that profile are already tied up with an existing network. So it’s not impossible, especially in the long-term, but even if it does happen it would be unlikely to pop up overnight and so Vegas odds for Bitcoin are way shorter.

Let’s go back to the Dansdeals analogy. Imagine that Dansdeals is not the only such website, and there are other websites in existence that provide similar services. For the sake of the analogy let’s call them MMS and OMAAT. They too have big enough followings to survive independently, and even though each one offers a slightly different flavor that differentiates them, anyone on one of the networks could also get their most important needs met on one of the other networks. In this analogy, do you think it’s worth collecting EQP/HT or not? After all, Schmansdeals.com could open up one day and all the business could move there.

The argument for the difficulty of starting up a rival blockchain network is much stronger than in the analogy (especially if we start to include “smart contracts” in the discussion), but the basic idea that you need a critical mass of follows to be successful and compete with existing rivals is the same.

« Last edited by yuneeq on December 25, 2017, 01:05:21 AM »

Author Topic: BitCoin Master Thread  (Read 347496 times)

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #960 on: February 05, 2018, 11:23:12 PM »
Are you on the second brinks truck yet?  :)
:)I am not covering my short yet, but I lowered my stop to $9500 now, there is some support at $5400, ill see how it reacts there.
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
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Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #961 on: February 05, 2018, 11:23:55 PM »
...and gold was up. They also turn to bonds and that happened big today.
Agreed.
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
Pele Good,Maradona Better, George Best.

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #962 on: February 05, 2018, 11:24:40 PM »
:)I am not covering my short yet, but I lowered my stop to $9500 now, there is some support at $5400, ill see how it reacts there.

What do you mean there is some support?

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #963 on: February 05, 2018, 11:26:08 PM »
What do you mean there is some support?
It will take a break for a day.
I just found a new supply of forks!

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #964 on: February 05, 2018, 11:26:31 PM »
Just realized. Maybe the bitcoin crash is causing the market crash, as many on this thread have warned.

Shoots. Guess I was wrong.

#weneedabailout

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #965 on: February 05, 2018, 11:28:46 PM »
:)I am not covering my short yet, but I lowered my stop to $9500 now, there is some support at $5400, ill see how it reacts there.
Just put a trailing stop of xxxx. Set it and forget it.  :)
I just found a new supply of forks!

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #966 on: February 05, 2018, 11:29:52 PM »
Just put a trailing stop of xxxx. Set it and forget it.  :)

Yah, can't you do that? or a trailing stop of x%?

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #967 on: February 05, 2018, 11:35:19 PM »
What do you mean there is some support?
Support and resistance on charts, it is basic tech. analysis, I basically use a proprietary  sentiment indicator system with time series and heikin ashi and renko charting. I do not look at fundamentals as they are always reflected in the current price and will not give any advantage. Honestly I do not even know what Bitcoin is, I just shorted a parabolic bubble .
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Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #968 on: February 05, 2018, 11:47:17 PM »
Support and resistance on charts, it is basic tech. analysis, I basically use a proprietary  sentiment indicator system with time series and heikin ashi and renko charting. I do not look at fundamentals as they are always reflected in the current price and will not give any advantage. Honestly I do not even know what Bitcoin is, I just shorted a parabolic bubble .

How can you tell there is support? Do you mean there are people waiting to buy at that price? How do you know?

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #969 on: February 05, 2018, 11:51:53 PM »
How can you tell there is support? Do you mean there are people waiting to buy at that price? How do you know?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_analysis
Feelings don't care about your facts

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #970 on: February 06, 2018, 12:06:51 AM »
How can you tell there is support? Do you mean there are people waiting to buy at that price? How do you know?
Support is a price where buyers came in , in the past, and resistance is where sellers dominated, old supports become resistance and old resistance becomes support, it just helps to know where these points are, there is a more sophisticated approach I use , hidden support and resistance and hidden pivot levels, that average traders and investors do not see on a chart, it was used by floor traders, I learned it from my mentor who started as a floor trader on the CBOT in the seventies, when floor traders used to make a killing daily.
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
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Offline Moshe123

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #971 on: February 06, 2018, 12:07:30 AM »
$5,925

Offline henche

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #972 on: February 06, 2018, 12:09:39 AM »
Support is a price where buyers came in , in the past, and resistance is where sellers dominated, old supports become resistance and old resistance becomes support, it just helps to know where these points are, there is a more sophisticated approach I use , hidden support and resistance and hidden pivot levels, that average traders and investors do not see on a chart, it was used by floor traders, I learned it from my mentor who started as a floor trader on the CBOT in the seventies, when floor traders used to make a killing daily.

1. What do you see that the computers can't see better?
2. Y U no mach a hedge fund?

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #973 on: February 06, 2018, 12:15:33 AM »
$5,925
I really do feel bad about the buyers at much higher prices, it has been the same game for hundreds of years, the smart money needs naive late comers to unload to .
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
Pele Good,Maradona Better, George Best.

Offline Moshe123

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #974 on: February 06, 2018, 12:15:39 AM »

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #975 on: February 06, 2018, 12:38:11 AM »
1. What do you see that the computers can't see better?
2. Y U no mach a hedge fund?
The best 2 traders of our times are both semi retired now, one is a Jewish guy , Marty Schwartz who is the best ever S&P trader,  he wrote a book about his life and trading.
The other is an Italian from Brooklyn, they nicknamed him Trader Vic, he wrote 3 books worth reading, if you have time and are interested in learning more , read these books, plus a book called the New Market Wizards, both Vic and Marty were interviewed in this book.
Neither of them used computerized programs, they both developed their own style, they traded their own money and made fortunes, they both opened hedge funds and closed them since they wanted to be free and trade without needing to report to investors. Vic was given hundreds of millions by George Soros to trade for him, he made him a lot of money.
I never had a chance to meet Marty, but I was very fortunate to meet Vic and learn from him.
 
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
Pele Good,Maradona Better, George Best.

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #976 on: February 07, 2018, 08:39:38 AM »
And up up it goes...

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #977 on: February 07, 2018, 09:21:02 AM »
And up up it goes...
So the end is a little longer?  :)
I just found a new supply of forks!

Offline Yitzshpitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #978 on: February 07, 2018, 09:53:27 AM »
So the end is a little longer?  :)

Keep waiting...

*3 years from now or 8 usernames later

Crypto is still going strong

"But the bubble..."

Online aygart

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #979 on: February 07, 2018, 10:01:39 AM »
Keep waiting...

*3 years from now or 8 usernames later

Crypto is still going strong

"But the bubble..."
Crypto can still be going strong and yet have been a bubble when it was at 15000
Feelings don't care about your facts