Bitcoin Thread

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Complete newbie - please excuse the question. I was looking on VALR and Binance.
Refreshing both pages I got a ZAR price of R169000 (= 9000USD per XE)
But the Binance price was 8678USD. That is a 3.7% difference - how is this justified?
 
divv said:
Complete newbie - please excuse the question. I was looking on VALR and Binance.
Refreshing both pages I got a ZAR price of R169000 (= 9000USD per XE)
But the Binance price was 8678USD. That is a 3.7% difference - how is this justified?
Click to expand...
Emerging markets usually have a premium.
 
Swa, thanks for your comment.
I would have thought that when you buy a commodity - whether its gold or BITC, that the price is the price..
The gold bar I buy using USD is not worth more or less than the bar I bought using ZAR, so why would the 1 BITC that I bought using USD be worth more or less than 1 BITC bought using ZAR? And if a bitcoin is a bitcoin then why should the price differ.. ?
It makes no sense to me - in that case why would anyone buy using ZAR... ?
 
divv said:
Swa, thanks for your comment.
I would have thought that when you buy a commodity - whether its gold or BITC, that the price is the price..
The gold bar I buy using USD is not worth more or less than the bar I bought using ZAR, so why would the 1 BITC that I bought using USD be worth more or less than 1 BITC bought using ZAR? And if a bitcoin is a bitcoin then why should the price differ.. ?
It makes no sense to me - in that case why would anyone buy using ZAR... ?
Click to expand...
You can buy unlimited zar btc you can't buy unlimited foreign btc

Simple example you want 10 btc you can't buy that on a foreign exchange due to annual 1m zar limitation. However you can buy 10000s of btc on luno
 
divv said:
Ok that I understand - sadly my resources put me very far under 1 mill so that's not an issue...
Click to expand...
Then you can buy anywhere just don't forget when you buy foreign btc you alos pay fx rates and swift fees also fnb is blocking all foreign exchange purchases laslty btc is very risky don't buy more than you willing to lose
 
divv said:
Swa, thanks for your comment.
I would have thought that when you buy a commodity - whether its gold or BITC, that the price is the price..
The gold bar I buy using USD is not worth more or less than the bar I bought using ZAR, so why would the 1 BITC that I bought using USD be worth more or less than 1 BITC bought using ZAR? And if a bitcoin is a bitcoin then why should the price differ.. ?
It makes no sense to me - in that case why would anyone buy using ZAR... ?
Click to expand...
That's the price set by buyers and sellers. There's always a slightly higher demand in emerging markets and you can see it in the number of buying vs selling trades. It doesn't really matter though unless you buy at a high premium and sell at a lower one you don't lose out. And if you buy to transfer to a foreign exchange you also get your premium back when you transfer back and sell.
 
The current price over spot is 173000/165150. That's a 4.75% premium.
Surely at that premium it makes sense to rather use a credit/debit card on an intl exchange to buy BTC? Which is usually little under 4% fees.

Especially if you're eventually going to transfer to that intl exchange at some point anyway to trade for various other cryptos. Our exchanges are quite limited in their options...
 
chopsky said:
The current price over spot is 173000/165150. That's a 4.75% premium.
Surely at that premium it makes sense to rather use a credit/debit card on an intl exchange to buy BTC? Which is usually little under 4% fees.
Click to expand...

It would make sense but not at those fees considering the exchange doesnt clear immediately and with the Rand fluctuating like a mad cow you might be buying at profit spread of 0.5% internationally only to be met with a Rand screwed over by extra 2% about 2 days later when the card transaction settles.
 
Swa said:
Emerging markets usually have a premium.
Click to expand...

Partially that but I think its mostly due to liquidity and trading volume. Luno is a fraction of a place like Binance and so spread will be way higher with higher base price that takes longer to adjust to international pricing.
 
chopsky said:
The current price over spot is 173000/165150. That's a 4.75% premium.
Surely at that premium it makes sense to rather use a credit/debit card on an intl exchange to buy BTC? Which is usually little under 4% fees.

Especially if you're eventually going to transfer to that intl exchange at some point anyway to trade for various other cryptos. Our exchanges are quite limited in their options...
Click to expand...
Rather than CC, I'd use something like Shyft where the spread works out to under 1%.
 
divv said:
Rather than CC, I'd use something like Shyft where the spread works out to under 1%.
Click to expand...
it depends sending forex isnt quick just look at this dip today and you dont buy at this rate you buy at about 1% higher

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You buy the currency when the rate is as good as you think it will get, and then keep it in your account until you need it.
 
chopsky said:
The current price over spot is 173000/165150. That's a 4.75% premium.
Surely at that premium it makes sense to rather use a credit/debit card on an intl exchange to buy BTC? Which is usually little under 4% fees.

Especially if you're eventually going to transfer to that intl exchange at some point anyway to trade for various other cryptos. Our exchanges are quite limited in their options...
Click to expand...

You are forgetting that Binance charges you 3% for using a CC then your bank will charge you anywhere from 1.5 - 3% premium on the actual exchange rate on conversion on your CC. So you are actually still getting it at a "Discount" at the higher price in rands.
 
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