but mtgox is the leading exchange, when price moves on gox others follow, price cannot completely crash on other bitcoin exchanges till gox lets market move again, the selling you see in the other sites is minor, just people willing to take loss, so that in the event of gox continued selling into the unknown they are not trapped.
So your contention is that if Mt. Gox is down, people who would otherwise panic sell won't just panic move-to-another-exchange-and-sell? Who in their right mind, believing that the price is going down, would not sell just because their favorite exchange is closed?
no... I am saying they are doing just that, but that the price can't completely crash in the other sites as it's held up by the frozen gox price, even if somebody sells it down to $20 on btc-e it will come back up because gox will still open at $120 so it affects all exchanges, I saw it the first time round also when they stopped trading at 17. lets say price is $10 and somebody on mtgox buys to $12 all the other exchanges will follow, but if somebody did it on another exchange instead then gox would not necessarily follow.
It will only open at $120 insomuch as that was the last price traded *at gox*.
Trades will only go through at that price if there are orders still left up there (you could still log in and cancel them all day)
More likely when the market opens on gox it will do so with a massive bid/ask spread, which will be filled - probably fairly quickly - as people pile in either side of the order book. Inevitably there will be some swings as bulls and bears fight it out for control.
If I was a day trader I would be creaming my pants, as these kind of conditions are heavenly for them!
If anything I am a swing trader, so I might put in a few lowball bids and see if I get lucky. Mainly though I will be sitting tight, holding my stash, and eating popcorn as the wiggly line goes up and down.