[bobsy]

What goes up...

The past couple of weeks has shown how easily the bitcoin market can be manipulated. People used to do this with shares. Buy up all the shares to push the price up. Then get out with a profit crashing the value of the share.

I don't think this is any different. I wouldn't be surprised if a handful of parties were responsible for the explosion in bitcoin value.

You could point to the Cyprus banking crisis perhaps as a reason for an increase in value but realistically Bitcoin is just one major hack away from being worthless again... Its like keeping your gold on a wooden shelf above a lava pit.. why anyone would put long term savings into Bitcoin right now is beyond me.

[xhrpost]

The "price" is whatever the last trade went for. If there are market manipulators buying up "all the shares", it would seem like a big risk as they are relying on there being enough bids within their profit range to sell them back at a profit. Right now for example, you could sell 100 BTC on Mt.Gox for an average price of $203USD/BTC. Try to sell 10,000 BTC and the average drops to about $195, and 100,000BTC would only average $111.

[brianbreslin]

If they can get liquidity then you are talking hundreds of millions in profit

[Cieplak]

Are you saying that someone has cornered the bitcoin market?