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 347328 times)

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1100 on: July 05, 2018, 12:40:29 AM »
You call this a bear market and not a crash?
It can still go lower,if it breaks below 5500 then it will head much lower, I finally covered my short position at $5995, was short from $19700 .
I was the Best,still the Best, and will always be the Best.
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Offline shulemw

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1101 on: July 05, 2018, 05:07:55 PM »
Nothing personal. But does anybody believe someone who says he shorted it at $19700 at the peak top????

Offline Ergel

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1102 on: July 05, 2018, 05:17:23 PM »
Nothing personal. But does anybody believe someone who says he shorted it at $19700 at the peak top????
When he posted here that he shorted it then, yeah
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Offline gingyguy

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1103 on: July 05, 2018, 05:53:05 PM »
When he posted here that he shorted it then, yeah
+1
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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1104 on: July 05, 2018, 06:00:39 PM »
When he posted then that he shorted it, yeah
FTFY
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Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1105 on: July 05, 2018, 06:46:25 PM »
When he posted here that he shorted it then, yeah
I believe him but he also had a trailing stop. What was that set at and it wasn't triggered?
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Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1106 on: July 06, 2018, 12:37:30 AM »
I believe him but he also had a trailing stop. What was that set at and it wasn't triggered?
Correct Chaim, last post I was short 2 contracts, initially put a trailing stop at $9500 for both, then I raised the stop on one contract to $13050 since I had a good profit and wanted to give it more time , the initial stop loss was hit at $9500.
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Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1107 on: July 06, 2018, 01:39:52 AM »
Correct Chaim, last post I was short 2 contracts, initially put a trailing stop at $9500 for both, then I raised the stop on one contract to $13050 since I had a good profit and wanted to give it more time , the initial stop loss was hit at $9500.
Ok I thought you had a trailing stop. That would either be a % or set amount. Seems you had a fixed stop that you adjusted?
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Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1108 on: August 09, 2018, 08:46:03 PM »
Time for that question. Are we there yet?
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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1109 on: August 09, 2018, 08:55:04 PM »
Time for that question. Are we there yet?
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Offline Yitzshpitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1110 on: August 09, 2018, 08:55:31 PM »
Time for that question. Are we there yet?

Starwoods? Yes

Offline ChaimMoskowitz

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1111 on: August 09, 2018, 09:34:32 PM »
Antarctica? Cruise is in December...
Starwoods? Yes
Antarctica gets the nod.  :)
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Offline hgeek23

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1112 on: August 13, 2018, 10:27:15 AM »
When he posted here that he shorted it then, yeah

Where was the short closed :p
I know a few people who shorted from 19k to 15 then longed with big leverage and lost their shirts  :o

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1113 on: August 13, 2018, 06:07:44 PM »
Where was the short closed :p
I know a few people who shorted from 19k to 15 then longed with big leverage and lost their shirts  :o
One @ 9500 another @ 5995.
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Offline hgeek23

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1114 on: August 13, 2018, 09:50:19 PM »
One @ 9500 another @ 5995.

Impressive. shorting from 19.7 ensures even if u went 100x leverage you wouldn't get liquidated. did he throw a hail mary 100x ? :p

Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1115 on: August 13, 2018, 11:03:19 PM »
Impressive. shorting from 19.7 ensures even if u went 100x leverage you wouldn't get liquidated. did he throw a hail mary 100x ? :p
It was a classic case of a parabolic rise and madness of the crowds, entering at the highs was pure luck.

I think the precious metals and forex currencies vs USD  have the opposite , a parabolic drop, where the bottom should be close for the next uptrend, I am waiting to go long.  :)
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Offline ExGingi

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1116 on: August 14, 2018, 08:25:45 AM »
It was a classic case of a parabolic rise and madness of the crowds, entering at the highs was pure luck.

I think the precious metals and forex currencies vs USD  have the opposite , a parabolic drop, where the bottom should be close for the next uptrend, I am waiting to go long.  :)
So are you going long with options or other strategies?
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Offline ludmila

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1117 on: August 14, 2018, 04:32:54 PM »
So are you going long with options or other strategies?
Not sure how to play it yet,either options or futures, still no sign of a reversal.
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Offline ExGingi

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Re: BitCoin Master Thread
« Reply #1118 on: August 14, 2018, 05:04:45 PM »
Not sure how to play it yet,either options or futures, still no sign of a reversal.

Keep us posted when you think it's a good time to get into PM, though this might not be the thread for it.
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