what exchanges must have, the basics

if we are all agreed that bitcoin, in effect the entire crypto-currency economy/community/society and its interaction with the fiat world, converting btc to usd etc, and back again, easily, needs competition between decentralised exchanges, then we need to concentrate on helping/encouraging individuals or small groups (companies?) to develop these goals into reality

thus, we need to agree that crypto-finance needs to enable the simple trading/investment of a range of crypto-instruments, eg:

* btc/usd, ltc/btc, ltc/usd, eur/btc, and so on, a network of exchanges/dealers making a "forex market" for crypto-currencies
* shares/stocks, options, warrants, convertible bonds, in companies, or projects, or ventures, properly set up and listed, where people can buy and sell their stakes in these entities easily, and either invest for long term, or trade short term - importantly, if the bitcoin economy is going to grow, and expand, and become mainstream, it needs capital, cashflow, and this has to come from investors/speculators
* bonds, to fund large projects, generally for a "community" benefit, returning interest to investors

this is not an exhaustive list, and i'd imagine most of these are already being traded on various fledgling exchanges, i dont want centralisation, but i do think we all need co-ordination of these exchange efforts

what people who invest and trade in fiat finance like, and want, is good quality charts and reliable data, charts which can easily present price information in bars or candles, and in all time frames, from 1 minute for the scalpers/day traders, to daily, weekly, monthlies for the longer term speculators and investors, so they know WHEN to get in, and when to get out - trading is not fun, its a serious business, and one way of helping to rid bitcoin of the so-called "ten year olds" speculating, which people claim was happening just before the bubble popped in early april, is to make btc's price move in a more orderly fashion

another big thing, one reason ive not yet traded on exchanges like mt gox, is because it doesnt not suit my trading system, many fiat world people use systems to trade, and these systems, believe it or not, make the fiat worlds exchanges tick along nicely, most of the time, and certainly btc will be more appealing to outsiders if exchanges STANDARDISE the following:

* simple one-click trading platforms, with DMA (direct market access), with built-in charting software, in real time
* allow both long (buy) and short (sell) trades
* margin and leverage
* stop losses
* demo accounts, so people can practice risk-free, first

the above, like i said, should be STANDARD, for all exchanges, if the bitcoin community is going to be able to enjoy safer, more reliable, more orderly markets which will better benefit all