I'm not really a computer person but have been trading stocks/shares for years and I am slightly worried by the trading patterns at MtGox. Here is a graph of recent trades:
http://img159.imagevenue.com/loc223/th_766425367_marketmanipulation_122_223lo.jpg Within a time frame of minutes prices have risen and fallen between $4 and $10, that is prices rose within minutes to +250% and then almost instantly fell -60%. With a market as liquid as that of MtGox and also with the wide market depth this makes no sense at all and raises questions of either:
1) Physical market manipulation by MtGox.
2) Erroneous trade reporting by MtGox in order to distort market sentiment.
3) Insider trading.
I for one have money in MtGox - that is I have transferred real money into their accounts and thus have a binding legal relationship with them within the UK.
In the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 it states that services must be 'carried out with reasonable care and skill'. Unless MtGox start to behave in a proper and controlled fashion I will be taking legal action against them to redeem my initial funds.
The problem is here that we have a group of cowboys trying to run a virtual commodity exchange who quite clearly have no grounding in the matters which should concern them. I can accept that most start ups such as MtGox may initially encounter problems and I accounted for this during my initial entrance into the market. However MtGox shows no sign of improving and as time passes appears to be reporting increased amounts of erroneous trading patterns. I am highly concerned and have sent a copy of my protest to MtGox.
There is a very good reason that the worlds stock exchanges have regulators.
I suggest the folks at MtGox wake upto the fact that this is no longer a game: they are taking real money from real people and putting themselves in a highly precarious position.
