Hi,

not paying any attention to bitcoins lately, I know realize how its marketprice has risen since november or mid january. Trying to understand this I looked at this graph:

http://www.bitcoinx.com/charts1/depth_mtgox.png

and I find myself with two questions:

Do I interpret correctly that the red chart reflects the amount of BTCs people ask for / would like to buy? If that is so, why does BTC price rice with declining demand? Or am I indeed confusing ask and bid sum here?
Why do the graphs seem to have a synchronized or even an axially symmetric signal/part to their trends?

Thank you
Luigi