Mt. Gox Suspended Trading in Bitcoins Earlier Today

Singularity Hub reports:

The bitcoin exchange market price of bitcoins in USD has fallen—and fallen hard. After peaking at $266, prices plunged Wednesday morning. There was a strong late rally, such that some data providers listed the “close” around $165. But the cryptocurrency trades round the clock, and Wednesday morning’s decline continued throughout the evening and into Thursday.

As of this writing, the last price on the biggest bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was $123, about -53.6% off  the peak, and it hasn’t moved much from there. Why? Mt. Gox suspended trading for 12 hours to catch up with trade volume—and presumably in the hopes of quelling the panic. A similarly sized correction marked the 2011 peak.

Mt. Gox quotes Wikipedia on its site:

As of July, 2011, Mt. Gox handles 80% of all bitcoin trade.

Trading is continuing on other exchanges, however, and they are at much lower prices. Here's some blow-by-blow of today's action via Peter Earle:

Recap; not much happening now. #BTC $88 - $90, down 66% from the $266 all-time high early yesterday & 40% from ~$150 earlier today. #bitcoin
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#Bitcoin now $80, $81. Losing a little ground in that post-lunchtime pattern remarkably reminiscent of equities, futures, etc. markets...
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#BTC now in the high $70s, $77s and $78s trading.
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#BTC bid at $57, trades below old low of $55 at $53. #Bitcoin
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#BTC bid at $57, trades below old low of $55 at $53. #Bitcoin
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#Bitcoin, low $70s now. Getting quiet again. #BTC
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

#Bitcoin now quietly trading between $66 - $68, down roughly 55% from $150 this morning and 75% from $266 all-time high hit yesterday. #BTC
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

I'll be watching when #MtGox (which didn't reply to my query before) opens later, but for now #BTC is quiet, trading in the high $70s. #BTC
— Pete Earle (@pete_earle) April 11, 2013

UPDATE

After a 12 hour suspension in trading, Mt. Gox has reopened.

UPDATE 2

After being reopened for 1 hour and 40 minutes, it appears the Mt. Gox site has crashed again.