So if I'm seeing this right..... Market sells are executing in the low 100's and market buys are executing around 150... and there is nothing in the middle??
yes that's what the manipulators realised - noone places fixed price orders when the lag is large as noone knows what the price will be when their trade is executed, and they could have wasted their 30 minutes putting in an offer at 190 and market is then at 170. It's then another 30 minute wait to cancel /correct the order.
So to be sure they hit sell at market. Similarly for the buy side, who, however are considerably more relaxed about it and perhaps willing to wait and see where things settle down.
The result is the aged order book of day old or more orders is what is mostly filling the panic sells and the price keeps going down. The bid ask spread just gets wider.
It's criminal that Gox permit this stupid state of affairs. They are being deliberately overwhelmed by bots placing little orders everywhere - not necessary for the bots to trade.
You can make a fortune selling near a shaky top in size, immediately placing a bid for same amount 20 percent lower, and forcing gox to lag like hell.
The winners are the manipulators and gox's bank account. The losers are gox's reputation, the panic sellers, and bitcoins reputation for stability.
