Bitshares is awesome, just needs a little work here and there and more people willing to put money into the system to trade. i'd be happy to help you with some trading basics if you're still interested in playing around with the system. i think it's worth it long run and my money is where my mouth is, which should count for something.
Placing orders is the fundamental thing, I can't imagine how they could not fix it, if it was well known for some time. I guess I'll give it a try again, now when I know that it should be possible somehow in the end.
Where I can find information about OPEN.BTC, BTC, bitBTC currencies?
cryptofresh.com has a thorough listing of all the smartcoins and assets. here's what it looks like for bitBTC:
http://cryptofresh.com/a/BTCSome things to note are current supply and SQP, which, divided by 100, is the margin call ratio threshold. if you maintenance margin falls below that number, then your collateral will be force liquidated. Given the weak liquidity for these markets, you do not want that to happen. Note, that's only an issue if you ever borrow an asset/smartcoin and then sell it, leaving yourself with an uncovered short position.
placing orders is pretty straightforward. just look at the order book in any market for the highest big, lowest ask, and note the settlement price. Given the lack of liquidity, we typically see all the action happening above settlement price.
@svk has either already, or will shortly fix the bug that started this thread. Despite being annoying, it wasn't too much of an issue for me. Still, it'll be nice having it fixed.
Let me know if there's anything else i can help with wrt trading mechanics.