The high prices on Ebay are almost certainly due to the fraud risk that the sellers have. If they are, e.g., paid with Paypal, the buyer can reverse the transaction after receiving the Bitcoins. Therefore, every seller will charge a premium to cover that risk.

On the other hand, the buyers also get an advantage for paying more: They don't need to trust platforms like MtGox, but can buy there coins on a more reputable platform. If the seller does not send them the Bitcoins they can be sure that they will get there money back.

No, seriously:

Trading times should be limited to when I am awake.

And preferrably commence as soon as I hit that switch on my toaster.


Problem?

An important aspect of markets being open only certain hours is to concentrate liquidity during these times and reduce the amount of wild trading swings that result from overly thin order books. While it wouldn't help the OP's concern about people not sleeping, it could potentially help market stability if markets were open say two hours every eight. Not that I expect anyone to implement that, but it is used to those ends in other markets.

Forex trades 24/7 and they're ok.

They're not a brand new startup currency. I think I made my point clear that 24/7 trading will be possible in a few years (Hopefully months if we get to work), but right now it's not looking to attractive.

How would it help if an exchange closed 8 hours a day? Others would still continue trading at other exchanges, so it's not really that you'd have peace of mind.

No Exchange in the world is 24/7 .. no exchange is more then 6 days a week no exchange has less then a 30 minute break each day.

its retarded... but so are the fills being reported after commissions.

mtgox has many flaws... but its the best we got.

I have a white paper on a proper BTCUSD futures contract & exchange.

looking for seed BTCs.

pm me

Why would anyone want to follow such "standard"? It's business disadvantage for an exchange to not work 24/7.
It's also disadvantage for PEOPLE USING THEM. The world will not wait for you while you sleep, Bitcoin price will change 24/7 anyway.

If you want to take an 8-hour break from trading, you can. Just convert all your bitcoins into whatever your home currency is at the end of the day and convert it back the next morning. That way you can feel safe and secure with your money and not lose sleep while everyone else keeps trading. If something causes the price to rise or fall during those 8 hours, then if there was an enforced break that same movement would happen within minutes of the market opening and people who didn't log in fast enough would still miss out.

Exactly. If you're a day trader - just "don't take your position home with you" 
(or pay someone to manage your position)

If you've got a longer view - put in some stop loss orders and maybe a supervisory bot as well.
(or pay someone to manage your position)


How the OP didn't realize that restricted trading hours for a global system like bitcoin is an awful idea I don't know.
It shouldn't take posting to a public board and being told this in many different ways to work this out!

What will vegetta's next suggestion be.. a porn website which goes completely offline when he wants to go to sleep, so that he can rest easy knowing it's secure from hackers?