Greg, two comments about your post. First, you made a comment about everyone being gamed by the markets at one time or another. Very true. During the worst trading day in my career in the first 30 minutes of trading I was gamed out of 7 figures plus in my own account. Ouch.

I fully endorse your comments on Bitcoin. The futures market is definitely without a doubt the tail that wags the dog not only for Bitcoin but for other investments as well. The futures IMHO opens up a new can of worms for price manipulation and I believe it will hurt not help Bitcoin. I have never invested in nor will I ever hold a position in Bitcoin. I definitely agree that Steem is a more logical alternative. When time permits me to study market execution procedures for Steem I will take a small position and hopefully average up over time.