Mt. Gox Freeze - Fair?

[BitBuster]

All trading on Mt.Gox has been frozen until 02:00 UTC.
This is supposedly due to the huge lag (apparently this time caused by another DDoS attack) experienced for the last few hours (though it was down to single digits just before the freeze?).

Is it right that Mt. Gox interferes with the market when the price plummets, even though this is because of its own system's performance? Especially as it did not do the same for the two previous occurrences (yesterday and last week), thus reneging on a precedent without advanced warning or formal policy change?

There will be people who sold this time on the expectation that, if left alone, the price would have continued to descend (as it did on previous occasions). Is it right that this was not allowed to happen and those same people may stand to lose on account of extraordinary manipulation?

Of course, DDoS attacks in this context are a deliberate attempt to defraud - but they were allowed to run their course and others were also allowed to profit from buying at the end of such occurrences. Why is that different from people attempting to profit by selling on the way down?


BB.

[Razick]

It's wrong. Last straw for MtGox. My money's in Bitfloor though. 

[MaxCoins]

All trading on Mt.Gox has been frozen until 02:00 UTC.

I.m not using MTGox - where did you get this information? Isn't it 3:26pm UTC now - it doesn't look like tere's much trading going on?

[BitBuster]

On their twitter originally, now announced on the site. Its 15:35UTC.


BB.

[MaxCoins]

Thanks!

[wtfvanity]

A victim of their own success?

I can hardly agree with that publicity crap. They are a victim of their crappy software.

[Exocyst]

Their service is very unreliable, and their fees are very high (0.6%).There have been some rumblings about suspicious ongoings (fractional reserve?) and I worry about their ability to handle a crash.

What will happen when it goes live after "database upgrade"?

Up or (Way) Down?

[k9quaint]

All trading on Mt.Gox has been frozen until 02:00 UTC.
This is supposedly due to the huge lag (apparently this time caused by another DDoS attack) experienced for the last few hours (though it was down to single digits just before the freeze?).

Is it right that Mt. Gox interferes with the market when the price plummets, even though this is because of its own system's performance? Especially as it did not do the same for the two previous occurrences (yesterday and last week), thus reneging on a precedent without advanced warning or formal policy change?

There will be people who sold this time on the expectation that, if left alone, the price would have continued to descend (as it did on previous occasions). Is it right that this was not allowed to happen and those same people may stand to lose on account of extraordinary manipulation?

Of course, DDoS attacks in this context are a deliberate attempt to defraud - but they were allowed to run their course and others were also allowed to profit from buying at the end of such occurrences. Why is that different from people attempting to profit by selling on the way down?


BB.

Gox is correct to suspend trading if they cannot provide a fair (meaning no variable lag) market due to too much demand. Their mistake was signing up too many accounts before upgrading their hardware.

[Exocyst]

Do you know if they are accepting deposits right now? --If I were to trade some BTC with announced 0.000% fee during impending collapse/recovery?

[localhost]

Ah, I was wondering why the discrepancy between Gox and BTC-E. I just think it's an outrage, except if the reason for the freeze is that they have a very strong belief that if they don't freeze their site will bug. By this I don't mean lag, I mean really serious bugs like half-made/double-spend transactions or something. Lag is an issue but shouldn't be a blocker: just tell people it's lagging, and then they may choose to trade with the risks they know, or not to trade. Otherwise it just feels like they're manipulating the market. Like, "hold on, this is going down too fast, let us sell our own BTCs first and then we open the exchange again"

[doobadoo]

I am an ongoing seller of the ddos theory.  Who is motivated to do this?  They've crated the price so much there is a decent chance it may not recover.  Also, when did they get the opportunity to buy in cheap? 

If some one was trying to ddos and buy after a drop, they probably got burned bad....so i think the ddosing for profit (if it ever existed, is over)

Now ddosing as a black op to kill bitcoin for a nefarious reason?  Who knows, but i think thats unlikely too.

[arsenische]

Yes, it is fair. It doesn't handle load, so it is good that they stopped that soap opera and try to fix things. And it is good that other exchanges probably receive more attention.  I think all this is good for the long term future of bitcoin.

[localhost]

Now ddosing as a black op to kill bitcoin for a nefarious reason?  Who knows, but i think thats unlikely too.

Meh, you don't kill BTC by DoSing an exchange. At best you make it a bit less valuable for a while...
I think the best way to (try to) kill BTC at the moment would be to inflate the blockchain with dust, although this is probably going to be costly...

And it is good that other exchanges probably receive more attention.

On this I totally agree. A single entry point is just baaaaaad, time to end the monopoly.

[Razick]

Are withdrawals still allowed?