They are also full of whales/market makers who dance to their own tune and can manipulate the price. All this Elon Tesla talk is just a side show to entertain the public.
There is no doubt hedge funds are playing in this space with lots of money and skills to extract maximum value from the joe shmoes
Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K
by spankyspangler on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:29AM
(#27206716)
In this particular case I don't think the market is all that complex. People were valuing bitcoin on the assumption that other people would keep buying it at higher prices before they sell.
People didn't cut nearly half a trillion dollars from the value of bitcoin on the word of a person known for blurting out impulsive and weird things. He didn't reveal any deep new insights into this thing. What Musk said just spooked the herd, that's all.
It would be interesting to figure out how much $USD has been paid for all the coins currently held, rather than looking at just market cap.
Shame it can't be calculated.
Re:Bitcoin Plummets Below 40K
by dr_zoidberg on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @08:32AM
(#27207665)
I think the exchanges would be the ones that could answer that question... But I don't think it's in their interests to do so.
Maybe Elon is the trigger for the 30% drop over the last few days... but remember he didn't announce his initial holdings until mid-February 2021, which was after the 5x surge. If anything his timing was awful.
Everything in hindsight is pure speculation and rationalization. Nobody has a clue, markets are complex, volatile and full of irrational actors.