mtgox could very easily be engaged in inside trading. they control the order book.
why did this guy delete all his posts? is there a way to see them?
i'm VERY curious about what is going on here..
That's the only reason you can really explain the lag. Before every big market order they insert their own trades and then sell into the market order. The more trades that get lagged in the queue the more they can buy/sell from the front and buy/sell into the end of the market order.
And it's not even illegal. They're not a real exchange. There are no laws saying they have to run an honest exchange (since it's not really an exchange). They could have their own "bot" that never loses on a trade (of course no fees). They can wait for 5-10-15 trades to queue then insert their own trades. They'd never lose and you can't really prove it. We just assume they're honest and nice guys and aren't tempted by making millions. Yeah.