Bitcoin Bites the Dust – Down $7,200 (37%) in Five Days

Townhall.com ^ | December 29, 2017 | Mike Fuljenz

[Kaslin]

While gold is rising, the trendy electronic crypto-currency Bitcoin collapsed from $19,363 on Sunday, December 17 to a low of $12,148 (down 37% in five days) on Friday, December 22, before rallying to close above $13,000 over the weekend (Bitcoin trades 24/7 and also on weekends). Apparently, investors are starting to realize that Bitcoin is only a creative computerized fiction, while gold is the Real Thing.

Although the “blockchain” technology of using Bitcoin for computerized buying and selling is probably an important technological advance for future economic exchanges, the market for cryptocurrencies is in its infancy – like automobiles a century ago, or computers 50 years ago or the Internet 20 years ago. There were hundreds of automakers in the 1920s, but only the Big Three survived.  Same with computers and dot-com companies: Most fell along the wayside. The “hot stocks” of the 1920s were car companies, then computers in the 1970s and then dot-coms in the 1990s. Cars, computers and the Internet are for real, but most of the companies died.  The same is true for Bitcoin. There are currently hundreds of obscure crypto-currencies competing for dominance.  Bitcoin is the biggest, but it may not remain No. 1 for long. The technology is for real, but investing in a hot stock with a parabolic chart is usually not a smart move.

Some of the smartest minds in finance agree with this assessment.  Warren Buffett called Bitcoin a “bubble,” in which “people get excited from the big price movements and Wall Street accommodates” them.  Buffett added that “You can’t value Bitcoin because it’s not a value-producing asset.”

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, praised blockchain technology but called Bitcoin a “fraud,” saying that “it won’t end well.”  Later, he added that “the only value of Bitcoin is what the other guy will pay for it.  Honestly, I think there’s a good chance that the buyers out there are jazzing it up every day so that maybe you’ll buy it too, and take them out.”  In addition, Janet Yellen and other central bankers have warned that Bitcoin is a “speculative asset” and not legal tender, as gold is.  This is more or less a veiled threat that the central bankers of the world will not honor the validity of Bitcoin transactions.

It’s a pretty safe bet that gold will continue to hold its value in 2018, but Bitcoin will probably not.

Gold’s Amazing Winter Surges

Gold is having its best year since 2010, up over 11% for the year, with only a few trading days left in 2017. More importantly, gold has strong upward momentum in the last half of December, rising from a low of $1,240 on December 12 – the day before the Federal Reserve’s rate increase – to $1,283 the day after Christmas. Some technical analysts say that if gold closes over $1,280 as a “resistance level,” it could quickly rise to $1,300 per ounce, perhaps within the next few days – in its regular “winter surge.”

Something amazing has been happening under the radar in the last five years.  Normally, September through December has been the “golden season” for gold’s increase, due to seasonal gold fabrication demand for jewelry gifts in preparation for fall and winter holidays in various cultures.  In the last five years, however, mid-December to March has been gold’s annual “hot spot,” perhaps due to the Chinese New Year, but more recently due to three Federal Reserve interest rate increases in mid-December.

The first mid-winter surge took place in early 2014 in conjunction with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, followed by Putin’s audacious takeover of the Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine. Then, during the last three years, gold’s low point came in the second half of the year – twice within a day of the Federal Reserve’s announcement of a 0.25% interest rate increase.Oddly, the reigning belief of the anti-gold market pundits is that gold would fall after interest rates rise, since gold “offers no interest income” and is therefore at a disadvantage to higher-interest currencies, but it turns out gold rallies when rates are raised:

We don’t know how far gold will rise this winter, but gold has risen by double-digit percentages in each of the last four winters. So far, gold is up about 3% (in the last two weeks), so it could have a lot of room left to grow before March. Now is the time to get on board before the bulk of gold’s winter gains arrive.

[Leep]

If you don’t mind me asking.
What would you say are the top five crytocurrencies..other than bitcoin.
And where is the best site to buy them?
I try to start a thread on this but didn’t have any luck.

[WhatNot]

Seeing as you are rich now, can you invest in my new "WhatNot Coin" It runs on a totally new blockchain technology. The great thing about "WhatNot Coin" is it forks so often you can never lose any money. Because your coins are worthless right from the start :^D

[Wildbill22]

There sure is a lot of fear of bitcoin in the news recently. Not that anything seems to have changed, other than more forks giving present holders of BTC hundreds of dollars in the forked coin per coin...

There may be a better crypto out there, but the death of BTC has been predicted for so long now it is almost meaningless given the gains.

I own some, but not more than I can totally walk away from. This is a very high risk investment, but as they say, “no guts no glory”.

[willyd]

The value in bitcoin rests in the avoidance of negative impact caused by traditional banking fees and charges. While this may not be intrinsic value, there is some value in the fee avoidance and the fact that the currency exists outside of the banking cartel monopooly. The rest is speculation in my opinion.

Also, the currency cannot be manipulated since the supply is finite and not controlled by any one government.

These things are appealing to people who deal in bitcoin. Where it ends up is anyone’s guess.

[IDFbunny]

I would dabble a little in Ripple, Litecoin, Monero. Bitcoin is still the ‘safe’ choice as compared to other alt-coins. There is something better than blockchain tech and that is hashgraph; it appears to be cheaper, faster, better than blockchain.

[Bones75]

I don’t know if “bit the dust” is the word for it, but it was quite a roller-coaster drop. It had to drop down some after that ridiculous spike it had. It went from 7,000 to 19,000 in a month. It settled back down around 13-14 thousand. It’s still up by around 1200 percent for the year. I’m curious to see where it goes from here, it’s been pretty stable for the past few weeks. Actually, since they started allowing BTC futures, it hasn’t moved a whole lot. I wonder why that is. I have no idea.

[Leep]

Thanks.
Been offline since i posted this.
Not sure I get it.
Is Hashgrapgh were I buy the various crypos?