Can anyone recommend a good review article comparing BTC price-monitoring services that provide alerts upon various targets (e.g. BTC reaches or drops to a particular price on whatever market).  Are any of the "Big Boys" who provide free alerts in traditional stock-monitoring watching bitcoin prices on Mt.Gox, Coinbase, or whatever (e.g. places like Yahoo Finance or Dow Jones' Marketwatch that let you set email alerts based on stock price targets, % change, etc.)?

Among new services, one useful insight would be whether the company is recognized with a sound reputation which might warrant some trust in a privacy policy, so you can avoid the harvest of email addresses to sell to spammers with BTC services/deals.  If not advertising-supported, what's available among those that charge for multiple alert thresholds (e.g., $9 a month for more than a single threshold setting at CoinPatrol).  While $9 seems pricey, it's not like they have a lot of competition -- or do they?

Since the Winklevoss Twins’ Bitcoin ETF may not be on the market any time in the near future, how can I take retirement funds that currently reside in an E-Trade stock trading account (designated as an IRA account) to invest in BTC?  As I understand it, to avoid tax penalties, you can’t just cash out a retirement account (e.g. to just buy BTC over the counter), but instead I need to “roll over” funds to another designated retirement account.  Anyone know of a tested strategy to get that retirement cash into bitcoin?  SecondMarket's Bitcoin Investment Trust requires attestation of a rather steep >$200K/year income or having >$1M in net worth (excluding home) and I'm not even sure they do IRA accounts.

I see one of the "self-directed IRA" account companies equivocating on bitcoin:
http://www.silverstone.net/bitcoin-self-directed-ira/

I've read this a couple of places as a security step, forwarding your loot on to new wallets.  The example referring to three steps articulated in this "trust no one" post regarding maximum security is here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33835.0 -- scroll down to the summary three steps.

OleOle, good points.  I do want a safe society and am a law abiding citizen.  I'm also concerned about Eric Holder setting new records for prosecuting whistleblowers, seizing AP phone records, and in other criminal enforcement, DOJ occasionally seeks to defeat anonymity.  But I don't mean to distract from my fundamental bitcoin question, which is why some advise transferring between wallets after a bitcoin acquisition is a matter of good security practice, presumably to defeat hackers.

All I can figure is that the sentiment there is that the hackers will go on to easier prey.  Let's face it, there are consumers who "fall" for all kinds of scams (from the Nigerian prince whose fortune awaits your banking info to your acquaintance stranded in a foreign country who needs financial rescue).  So I guess there is plenty of low-hanging fruit for BTC scammers.

Anybody see other rationale for this advice of moving bitcoin to a new wallet?  (As an example, one of the places I have read this is in a "trust no one" three-step security strategy recommended by dacoinminster here.)

I've read that it's a good security practice for a newbie after acquiring some bitcoin to put all your coins in a new wallet that has never connected to the network.  Can you help me understand what good that is, because I'm assuming you can't do a transfer between wallets offline, right?

Seems to me the very act of sending money from wallet #1 to wallet #2 leaves a blockchain fingerprint… so if Evildoer Eddie was involved in an early transaction with you, he can figure out any wallet address you've moved money too as well, right?  And if you're a distant protester worried about the computing power of NSA, I imagine they can follow your personal bitcoin moves rather easily after a pressured vendor or exchange contributes the first wallet address to their cause.

Just an aside: I find it interesting that in the course of its academic effort to test some hypotheses of cracking anonymity, a UCSD/GMU paper (Meiklejohn et al.) indicates the researchers scoured bitcointalk.org posts for tips on addresses associated with major thefts or now-defunct services.  (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not watching you.)

On Coinbase, I could not get the credit card option to work (inexplicably would not recognize a Wells Fargo VISA credit card, definitely not debit) and that verify fail cost this newbie faster service. But I otherwise found an ACH-based purchase there of a single bitcoin to be a smooth, admittedly slow, process.  So here's one vote for Coinbase.  I read a couple threads elsewhere on bitcointalk about ventures that announce they were hacked, suffered a huge loss, and now will repay account-holders only a fraction of users' account value; I suppose one doesn't know how true any story here is.  Reputation is everything.  I went with Coinbase because of others' reports of successful use, including one responsible user (a national financial magazine reporter) who likely had too much to lose to be part of some scam to "salt the mine" with phony acknowledgements or testimonials.

That said, Coinbase would do well to improve communications with users at various stage of a multiday process so buyers have a better understanding of what is going on during that "black hole" period of ACH or other waiting time.  I hope Coinbase service and transparency will improve.  I would pay a higher fee to comfortably use reputable companies given the horror stories one reads on bitcointalk.  This guy Olaf jumping in on this bitcointalk thread is a step in the right direction, shows some concern for reputation management.  Even if those here with problems don't get the resolution or PM response they want, I'd still prefer to deal with a company that jumps in to engage users posting on bitcointalk than a startup that is a complete dark hole on communications.

After I posted about Coinbase, it occurred to me that OP (Kiki112) doesn't have or doesn't want to disclose a bank account, and I'm not sure Coinbase would approve an account with only a credit card.  Since anhpt192 and EnderHf expressed surprise, I should add that I have not successfully used my Visa card with Coinbase, only bank account.  First, I found that almost all of my true credit cards (it rejected my debit cards) were MasterCard (not accepted at this time), a pattern I hadn't noticed before.  And with my Wells Fargo VISA card, it refused it, said it didn't authenticate.  Huh?  I emailed their customer support that I had checked EXACTLY the syntax, spacing, etc. for all fields right off the Visa bill, and they didn't respond.

Otherwise, I've found Coinbase, while slow to process via bank account, to be a smooth BTC purchase source -- and next time I need a new credit card, I'll look for a VISA to get more diversified!

How about Coinbase?  http://coinbase.com

For some reason, Visa only.

One of the places I was looking at to order bitcoin has an identity validation service through Miicard.  I haven't seen a lot of "mainstream" media examination of Miicard.  A couple mainstream press mentions, but I didn't stumble across any indepth reporting that quotes people you'd trust vouching for them. I'm not the only one who finds it creepy that they want password access to your bank account, and see one bitcointalk report here that they "ping" accounts long after initial authorization (http://tinyurl.com/kl4qyaz).  I feel a little better that they have a business arrangement with another company (Yodlee) that itself has partnerships with banks and companies I've actually heard of, and I figure Yodlee would have checked them out.  Thoughts about turning the password to your bank account over to Miicard?

Thanks, Xanis, you're completely correct. I should learn to say "address" instead of "wallet" in that context. Merchant didn't know anything about the BTC address provided by Mt.Gox.  Newbie stands corrected.

Mike, I'd rather not burn the merchant because he has provided some followup information about others having the problem and his advice that I work with Mt.Gox did ultimately resolve the problem in the last 24 hours.  He seems like a nice guy filling a void through bitcoin where the evil RIAA's pressure on former U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab has created an untenable situation for credit card companies and PayPal with regard to U.S. citizens trading with members of the Russian Organization for Multimedia and Digital Systems.  BTC to the rescue.  Now that I think of it, his new BTC tack skirting USTR trade interference would make a great story for Fortune.

As to my bitcoin problem, here's what happened, as best I can tell.  Remember, this is the newbies forum, so I have limited understanding of what I am looking at in blockchain.  The value of bitcoin fluctuated while Mt.Gox was processing the transaction and my BTC remittance for the advertised price in US dollars was in a BTC shortfall even accounting for included transaction fees.  Sending an additional $2 worth of BTC caused the transaction to complete and eventually a Mt.Gox refund of a little over a dollar (in BTC).  It is very frustrating that merchants who use Mt.Gox this way don't have any idea about the wallet numbers Mt.Gox presents to consumers for payment on their behalf.

In all this, I must say, I found Mt.Gox email response times remarkably good.  Here I was, going to the Mt.Gox front Web page and clicking on "Contact Us" and eventally presented with a Web mailform whose SUBJECT line was a drop-down menu of unrelated issues about using the site.  I expected I'd be in a long queue of people with password questions and what not and would wander a Japanese maze for days.  I also posted under Support, not finding any "Problem with Transaction" link.

Both of my submissions were responded to quickly, merged, and Mt.Gox appeared ready to assist, responded to my followup comments quickly.  While I have some questions in my mind about companies from Coinbase (using ACH) to Mt.Gox enjoying considerable "float" time interest revenue in these slow-to-complete transactions, I shrug it off as part of the cost of dong business in bitcoin.  Newbies should expect to be a little frustrated learning the BTC terrain, but I leave this particular lesson very satisfied with the speed of responsiveness of Mt.Gox.  Now, if I only had a clue how to do an international bank transfer to fund a Mt.Gox account...

Scary place, this bitcoin marketplace.  My first purchase, I got screwed.  Merchant says he never saw the payment, but my wallet is depleted -- he uses some Mt.Gox storefront service, says contact Mt.Gox, he's not interested in my blockchain cite because the wallet is some Mt.Gox wallet that he knows nothing about.  If I paid with a check, I could stop payment; if a credit card, I could contest my bill.  Nobody's in charge here -- all fun and games until someone loses an eye.  So, serious question, to protect themselves in BTC deals, do people ever use recognized escrow services?  If so, who's highly regarded?  If not, someone please launch one!