<< So...as long as it's others, and not you , who get burned by E*trade's lack of a functional back-up system,>>
E*trade has two, not zero, backup systems. One - live brokers, is somewhat questionable due to volume. The other, Teletrade, worked just fine. Your point is erroneous. Their backup systems may not have been internet-based, but they were in place and working.
<<But basic incompetence doesn't cut the mustard. >>
You are correct, but the same can be said of the incompetence of the investors, that either had no backup in place or didn't know how to use the ones that E*Trade had.
<<I don't see that the frequency with which one trades, as you suggested, has anything at all to do it.>>
It's not so much the frequency, but the price sensitivity. A buy-and-hold investor generally isn't as worried about a fractional difference in price, or even a point or two, since they are expecting the stock to double in value over, say, a five-year period. Therefore, if I can't place a trade today, tomorrow is soon enough. A daytrader, on the other hand, expects to trade in and out of a position frequently and quickly, and a difference of a small fraction of a point is meaningful to them.
For me, the record-keeping that E*Trade provides on line, and the accessibility of research information is very useful. They have always completed my trades quickly and accurately, and have been responsive to my emails. The commission structure is okay, and products offered are complete (for my purposes). What more could I want? |
