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Nah, you could short-sell Bitcoin. Take out a sell option, crash the value, buy cheap, then exercise the option. Information is valuable, no matter which dire

Nah, you could short-sell Bitcoin. Take out a sell option, crash the value, buy cheap, then exercise the option. Information is valuable, no matter which direction it predicts the market to go.

pgwhalen 8y ago
An interesting thought, but in practice, trading derivatives affects the value of the underlying pretty strongly. Whoever is selling you those puts is selling bitcoin (or futures) to hedge, which would drive the price down as you try to put on your position.
- physguy1123 8y ago
  With options, buying deep OTM puts won't result in an immediate impact on the underlying market because they have such low delta and market makers aren't going to move a lot of spot to hedge it.
  - AndrewBissell 8y ago
    The problem is that if you successfully rook put sellers in this way for some ungodly amount of money, they will never be able to pay out on your claim. Kinda like when all the big Wall Street Banks were caught out because AIG was threatening to go bankrupt and default on their CDS.
    - physguy1123 8y ago
      You might never exercise the option, but you could probably resell the option at a far higher price
  - pgwhalen 8y ago
    It wouldn't be immediate, but the second you put on a trade with any kind of size that far out of the money, the market makers will wise up.
pbreit 8y ago
I would think a slow-play is significantly easier. For one, it doesn’t require much capital, unlike shorting.
thisisit 8y ago
That sounds like a perfect trade. But doing something like that will paint a target on hacker/s back. So, slowly leaching is a much better idea than getting it in one shot.
tome 8y ago
Where would you buy a put (sell) option on Bitcoin (without substantial counterparty or settlement risk)? I genuinely want to know. I would have bought one in November if I could have.
- martinald 8y ago
  interactive investors offer this i believe
- actsasbuffoon 8y ago
  I’ve read about plans to introduce crypto currency ETFs, but I’m not aware of any that are publicly traded yet.
  - tome 8y ago
    Even then it's not clear you'll be able to buy options on them...
- thinkmassive 8y ago
  Bitmex

Nah, you could short-sell Bitcoin. Take out a sell option, crash the value, buy cheap, then exercise the option. Information is valuable, no matter which direction it predicts the market to go.

pgwhalen 8y ago

An interesting thought, but in practice, trading derivatives affects the value of the underlying pretty strongly. Whoever is selling you those puts is selling bitcoin (or futures) to hedge, which would drive the price down as you try to put on your position.

physguy1123 8y ago
With options, buying deep OTM puts won't result in an immediate impact on the underlying market because they have such low delta and market makers aren't going to move a lot of spot to hedge it.
- AndrewBissell 8y ago
  The problem is that if you successfully rook put sellers in this way for some ungodly amount of money, they will never be able to pay out on your claim. Kinda like when all the big Wall Street Banks were caught out because AIG was threatening to go bankrupt and default on their CDS.
  - physguy1123 8y ago
    You might never exercise the option, but you could probably resell the option at a far higher price
- pgwhalen 8y ago
  It wouldn't be immediate, but the second you put on a trade with any kind of size that far out of the money, the market makers will wise up.

pbreit 8y ago

I would think a slow-play is significantly easier. For one, it doesn’t require much capital, unlike shorting.

thisisit 8y ago

That sounds like a perfect trade. But doing something like that will paint a target on hacker/s back. So, slowly leaching is a much better idea than getting it in one shot.

tome 8y ago

Where would you buy a put (sell) option on Bitcoin (without substantial counterparty or settlement risk)? I genuinely want to know. I would have bought one in November if I could have.

martinald 8y ago
interactive investors offer this i believe
actsasbuffoon 8y ago
I’ve read about plans to introduce crypto currency ETFs, but I’m not aware of any that are publicly traded yet.
- tome 8y ago
  Even then it's not clear you'll be able to buy options on them...
thinkmassive 8y ago
Bitmex