Bitcoin is like a temperamental teen adolescent. Up one moment and the life of the party. Then down the next... and were all holding our breath walking on eggshells. Feeling misunderstood, misinterpreted and unappreciated.
Ironically, so is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is extremely volatile, and when it comes to trading bitcoin, people often misunderstand, misinterpret and miscalculate. A common phrase floating around lately...
I own $500 worth of bitcoin
This statement is technically
flawed and can only be
true at one point in time. And leads to the top 3 biggest misconceptions of bitcoin pricing:
- Bitcoin price is not prone to fluctuations
- Bitcoin value is set to fiat currency
- Bitcoin value should always be valued to USD/GBP/EUR
Lets debunk: The economic principles of supply and demand apply to apply bitcoin, as such, the market value changes. In January, Bitcoin was $1212 June 23, Bitcoin was $3409 July 15, $3000 August 20, $4600 August 29, $4200 At the time of writing: $4419.92 [edited] As at
November 29, $10,000, and on December 12, $17,366. The graph below illustrates the price up until October.
Buying bitcoin If you bought $500 of bitcoin on June 23, you have 0.1 of a bitcoin. This doesnt mean you own $500 of bitcoin. It actually means you own 0.1 bitcoin. On June 29, the value of your 0.1 bitcoin would be $257. Come August 10, the value of your bitcoin . $336. Thats perceived value and it is always changing. Check
today's price on coinmarketcap.
Of course, that doesnt matter until you actually sell it. Transferring bitcoin Same rules apply. You own 0.1 bitcoin. When making a transfer youre transferring 0.1 bitcoin, not $250 of bitcoin. The value changes, depending on the day youre looking at it. Again, it may have been $250 now, but $375 tonight, or $1900 tomorrow etc.
How Bitcoin price fluctuations may affect you, and your Wirex transaction
Like you, Wirex too is trying to deal with the temperament of Bitcoins ever-changing price. To calculate our rates, we have a liquidity pool of providers (Wirex Pay), who compete for the best exchange rate at the time of your transaction. Were focused on expanding this network of providers to ensure you get the lowest and most competitive exchange rate, always.
Zero blockchain fees between Wirex Community
Furthermore, if you have been following, you may have heard we recently upgraded our platform (in preparation for Segwit), to eliminate blockchain fees for internal transfers between Wirex customers. Thats right, there is no blockchain fee when transferring to another Wirex account.As a Wirex As a Wirex customer, youre getting the best rate at the time of your transaction, guaranteed. AND you wont get any blockchain fees when transferring within the Wirex community. Theres still a long way before Bitcoin matures until then were going to have to learn to make her volatility work for us.
