12 Comments
User's avatar
Thomas M Clay's avatar

John, you are so cynical.

As I remember Reminiscences, a big part of the game in the 1920s was assuming that the bucket shop operators were out to get you and trying to prosper in spite of their strenuous efforts to ruin any clients who were making a profit. Are today's crypto traders so much more credulous?

Alexander Harrowell's avatar

I first heard the expression "bucket shop" in the context of fraudulent travel agents or tour operators who would accept cash from their customers and then fail to provide the charter flights or whatever and usually abandon the customers in an airport somewhere - the folk etymology was a shop that sold buckets and spades* and went into the travel business on an amateurish basis without enough capital, consequently going bust while its customers were en route, as used to happen a lot in the 1980s and 1990s.

Interestingly, despite being completely different, they arrive at roughly the same thing; a long firm that accepts customer deposits, doesn't deliver whatever it promised, and sticks to the cash.

*A bit like "Dave's Gas, Bait, and Internet Service Provider" from the 2000s

John O'Loghlen's avatar

John - love your work and recall some punchy comments on a regulator a few years back which . If any interest in discussing Coinbase and/or Coinbase Australia happy to grab a coffee. (Not sure how we got called out in this piece versus offshore exchanges etc. given weekend's market activity.)

Premski's avatar

well it looks like this happened : https://x.com/elontrades/status/1977340254047649966?s=46&t=0kEtp7M29ov5IRUYfIeIlQ

which is not so far off from what John's talking about

DL's avatar

Most high leveraged trading activity comes from perpetual futures not loan backed spot positions

Matt's avatar

Not sure if the upshot is you are short or long Plus500 but might be worth a chat on that name with Hanbury at Lancaster who has been in the name in size since ipo.

Jonathan Russo's avatar

John great post here is my take The Hill Buckle up for the rug pull of all time

DL's avatar

Did you just make up all this on the spot

Alex Brooks's avatar

Why oh why is this so complex?

Graoully's avatar

it's really not