Bitcoin Forum

If we know the number of coins being produced and we know the volume of sales, might we also have an indication of whether the price is in balance?

If there are fewer coins being produced that are being bought currently, then perhaps we might expect a rise as the market tries to find balance; even before we see more customers?
If there are more coins being produced than are being sold; regardless of whether they are in the market or being held by miners, then perhaps that suggests the price might fall; or more correctly that the market needs to see more customers, in order to find balance?

Would it be simple to gather that data or is that already too difficult with so many new exchanges??

Watch your wording up there.  But you've got the general idea.  As a finite commodity bitcoin is heavily driven by supply and demand. 

There's a thread discussing the supply side here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130619.0.  Note we're at 13% INFLATION currently, which is technically a higher inflation rate than the amount of US currency printed.   Will this drop? Yes, and its a very good thing because it means Bitcoins will become more scarce over time. 

As for demand, it's really not driven by the number of customers but the actual amount of money willing to purchase at any given time.  Your best place to look at this is the order books. *which still must be taken with a grain of salt,

but check out the "depth" tab of this site http://bitcoin-analytics.com/

I can't see the error in that wording - is bought or sold not the same event, from different perspectives?

I was just thinking from the miners perspective, what control and consideration they were giving to this.
That prompted by a thought that perhaps the MtGox 0.01 and other fractions were not ddos but miners learning clumsily.