You might have missed a Steem Dollars "Pump and Dump" yesterday...

Yeah, it was a sight to behold.

We first caught wind of this group, http://fairpumps.net, a week or so ago, and we were able to watch one of their "events" in action last week - we didn't participate because we didn't have a Bittrex account.

Flash forward to yesterday and, while now we HAD a Bittrex account, and we had money in it (thanks to a deposit we made on Coinbase, and here's more about them: http://metacoin.co/using-coinbase-bitcoin ), we really missed the action.

Here's a brief timeline of the Fair Pump process from yesterday - and how it impacted the price of...get this...Steem Dollars!

The Block
Using a random process, around 5 EDT in the US, a "target block" is announced. From here, the selection of the coin will come.

The List
The target list of coins ranges, according to the site (see here: http://fairpumps.net/faq/), from 8 to 16 coins. Each time we've watched this in action, it has been 8 coins to choose from, though the website shows an example using 16 coins.

The Pick
Thanks, again, to randomness, a number is selected and...Voila! SBD is the coin to pump.

The Pump
This was a "blink and you'll miss it" exercise.

If you were quick, you were able to PUMP - e.g. a whole bunch of people buying the same coin at the same time, driving its price up rather rapidly - and subsequently DUMP, too. That's a 5-minute candle on the left of that diagram. Some lucky sap sold their stake just as quickly as they bought their stake, and might have quintupled their money.

When we got back to our desk after running an errand - ARRGH WE MISSED IT - we were looking at a price of .0019. Nope, not worth it. We'll pass.

Price then dropped down to .001. Whew.

The Psychology

On our Metacoin site - which you can follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/teammetacoin - we talk about FOMO, FUD, and the Pump and Dump. FOMO, of course, is the "Fear of Missing Out"...you don't want to see everyone else triple their money while you're watching???

FUD - "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt." Of course, you don't know what will happen, do ya? Other coins could be better, but you don't know???

And the Pump and Dump speaks for itself. Sometimes, they're rather sophisticated traders (known as "whales") that will try to buy a whole bunch at a set price, then hope that the psychology above drives the price up. Then they wait for their moment and...they dump.

In any event, the next Fair Pump is Thursday at 5 EDT.

Also, y'all...if you haven't signed up with Coinbase, what are you waiting for??? https://www.coinbase.com/join/58753e007d0b3d545f48fb1f <<you can get a bonus, and we'll get a bonus, too. So it's a win-win.