eToro, one the major online CFD providers, has just announced that they are removing MtGox as the exchange for their price quotes, replacing them with Bitstamp- an uncommon candidate for these purposes.
In a resounding slap in the face of MtGox, it has just stated on its website:
"As some of you have already commented on the $BTC wall, there have been specific developments with Mt. Gox, developments that have had an impact on $BTC quoted prices. We at eToro have been monitoring the situation and have decided to change our price provider. Therefore, as of the next execution at 18:00 GMT today (11/2/14), we will be moving to Bitstamp as our price provider. That means, from the execution at 18:00 GMT, the prices and charts will reflect the prices from Bitstamp. This will align our activities with other financial institutions in the world and move to the most reputable source of $BTC prices."
Forex Magnates had reported that CFD brokers dealing in Bitcoin are finding themselves under both internal and external pressure to make the replacement.
Internally, they face the risk of losing out in arbitrage from their clients as trading lags in MtGox's pricing engine are causing delays between between price quotation and actual execution. The trading lags are reportedly arising from poor Liquidity on the exchange. The poor liquidity is also resulting in volatile and unpredictable bid-ask spreads, leaving the the broker vulnerable to unintended losses.
Below are some screenshots of the price lag showing in PLUS 500, another CFD provider for bitcoins. The spread was outside the real-time price traded on MtGox:
Externally, customers have demanded change simply because they are more comfortable with prices that accurately reflect the true value of Bitcoin, something which is MtGox is failing to provide.
Also on Forex Magnates was a review with Huobi founder and CEO Leon Li. Discussing the success of his exchange and prospects for the future, Li commented on the MtGox issue, "Wallets sometimes experience small technical problems, but all of them can be fixed and thus won’t cause large-scale withdrawal problem. We are aware of the technical problem that Mt. GOX raised and our Technical Department is working on the details."
