I think I read somewhere a while back that it is possible for the difficulty level to actually go down. If so, I wonder if the recent issues with the exchanges, the price drop, and what seems to be an unlucky streak that is allegedly not exclusive to just this pool could cause a slow down or reversal of the difficult change? Any thoughts?
Difficulty changes as the time between retargets change.
A retarget occurs ever 2016 blocks. If the time between blocks is exactly 14 days, difficulty stays the same. If time between retargets is less than 14 days, difficulty increases by the same proportion.
Moreinterestingly (for you) is that If the time between retargets is more than 14 days, difficulty decreases by the same proportion. So if it takes 15 days for 2016 blocks, difficulty would be divided by 15/14 to get the next difficulty.