There is also a thread on this in the newbie section (
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=167002.0).
The following is a copy of my response there:
There are perfectly good explanations for the two issues he mentiones:
1. The hotwallet is often empty
There is simply because the hotwallet is only charged with a limited amount of BTC, a good security measure, and the owner is running the exchange all by himself and is sometimes a bit late in recharging it as he is busy. The recent steep increase in the number of users has aggrevated this.
2. The price on btc24 is often much than at gox
The prices between exchanges are synchronized by arbitrage trading. ie you would sell for a high price on btc24, transfer the money to gox and buy cheaply. However, the only fast way to transfer money from btc24 to gox is via vouchX coupons/aurumXchange. For this, btc24 exchange has to have a reserve of euro and dollar coupons, but these often run out. When you watch this (as I do, to benefit from arbitrage trading opportunities), you will find that the prices diverge strongly when the coupon reserves are empty, but are well synchronized (within a bit of margin, due to coupon fees etc) when the coupons are there.
Lastly, for what its worth, I have traded on this exchange for a few months now, and adjust my orders a lot almost 24/7 except when I sleep (only 4 hours a day thanks to crazy volatility and 4 kids) and have not experienced this.
As has been said, this can only be addressed by the owner of the exchange (Tais46). In any case, if the bug exists, it must be very rare or I would have experienced it already, and the volumes on this exchange are not so high so the amount of money involved would probably be minor.
