Which gives the best indication of bitcoin's current trading price?

[Win4fun]

So I can access all this information from Mtgox's API: http://data.mtgox.com/api/2/BTCUSD/money/ticker and http://data.mtgox.com/api/2/BTCUSD/money/depth/full. Which value gives the best estimation of BTC's trading price at any moment in time? Also what is the difference between Average and Weighted Average? What about Last, Last_All, and Last_orig?

If there's a better site to use I need to be able to access the price through some sort of API.

[Trillium]

Don't use mt.gox to give you a good idea of the price at the moment, their accounts are restricted and fiat<->BTC conversion is not really working out well for them at the moment.

I would suggest you look at bitstamp, btc-e, campbx

http://bitcoinity.org/markets/bitstamp/USD

you can see the other exchange prices in the top-middle of the webpage

[bandicootbender]

I have no idea if it is a good one or not but preev.com is the bitcoin currency converter and bitcoin value website I use.

[Trillium]

I have no idea if it is a good one or not but preev.com is the bitcoin currency converter and bitcoin value website I use.

Data is normally sourced from Mt.Gox. (In rare cases, other sources are used e.g. if there's a problem connecting to Mt.Gox.)

You could use other sites and get far more info about what is happening with the market.

[truelitecoin]

There isn't a universal market price. Bitcoin prices change depending on which exchange you are using.

[Win4fun]

There isn't a universal market price. Bitcoin prices change depending on which exchange you are using.

Of course. I'm looking for a fair estimate of bitcoin's price on an exchange like Mtgox. I've realized the weighted average value is over the last 24 hours, is there a value that shows more of a recent update of the price bitcoin is trading around?

[fleabag]

There isn't a universal market price. Bitcoin prices change depending on which exchange you are using.

Of course. I'm looking for a fair estimate of bitcoin's price on an exchange like Mtgox. I've realized the weighted average value is over the last 24 hours, is there a value that shows more of a recent update of the price bitcoin is trading around?

how can you have a fair price when you have a bunch of unregulated crooks running the exchanges?

[Trillium]

Because if customers / traders knew that they were 'crooks' then they'd use something else and the exchange would see nil use.

[fleabag]

Because if customers / traders knew that they were 'crooks' then they'd use something else and the exchange would see nil use.

people know but what can they do about it. nobody is accountable.

[Trillium]

You seem to think that people don't have a choice where they exchange their cryptocoins? If there is a problem with an exchange or operator, then they will have less customers, they will make less income from taking less fees, and sooner or later their costs of running their operation will be too high and they will cease to exist. There are at least 3 other reasonably sized exchanges that are good for exchanging btc right now, if you have a problem with mt.gox then don't use them. No one has to hold them accountable.