What are the best exchanges

[Ecrypton]

MtGox is the largest exchange but currently has a problem with liquidity.
This is one of the reasons why there BTC course is highest.
Bitstamp is the second largest and is doing really well.
BTC-e is also good if you want to trade with alt currencies.
Vicurex is also good.
I used all four, and I had no problems.

[odolvlobo]

It depends on what you want to do with the exchange.

In the U.S., if all you want to do is buy some bitcoins, then I think that LocalBitcoins is the best for newbies and the next best choice is Coinbase.

If you want to sell bitcoins, then LocalBitcoins and Coinbase are probably the only choices in the U.S.

if you want to trade, then the newbies section is the wrong place to ask.

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
In the U.S., if all you want to do is buy some bitcoins, then I think that LocalBitcoins is the best for newbies and the next best choice is Coinbase.

If you want to sell bitcoins, then LocalBitcoins is probably the only choice in the U.S.
- snip -

Avoid Localbitcoins for the next 24 hours.

They are dealing with a potential security issue and have temporarily disabled all bitcoin withdrawals.

The extent of the issue is not yet clear.  Hopefully it will not destroy them, but until the dust settles you don't want to be transferring any additional bitcoins to their service.