To: JOEY who wrote (37751 ) 6/9/1999 7:56:00 PM From: PCModem Respond to of 43774
Joey, thanks, that's an interesting statistic. It suggests to me there is a lot of room to grow in when it comes to online trading. I'm fascinated by the recent announcement by Merrill Lynch that they are going to start offering online trading for $29.95 per trade. The last time I was in the Newport Beach office of Merrill, it looked like a ghost town. [They have the entire 16th floor of a really nice building across the street from John Wayne Airport.] A couple of days later I was in the Palm Springs office and it wasn't quite so empty, (although it is a much smaller office), there were only two customers in evidence. Apparently, Merrill has finally noticed that a lot of its customers have discovered there is a new way to trade stocks. This is interesting to me because on the one hand you have "our little company" going after a niche market (day trading) and attempting to market its service in an unusual way for the industry (franchising). While on the other hand, you have an industry giant, Merrill Lynch who has been observing from the cyber-sidelines, waiting to see how things would develop and letting Schwab, E*Trade and the rest work the bugs out (so to speak). I'm wondering if our company will be big enough soon enough to really make an impact (enough to become a major player in the industry). And I'm wondering if Merrill is too big and getting too late a start to easily shift gears and change its "corporate culture" to be successful. The other way to look at it is that "our little company" is probably nimble enough to make quick adjustments and implement innovations (ala the franchising idea), while Merrill has the clout and means to establish an online trading presence whether it is a money maker or not. The good news for PABN is that it does not appear that Merrill's plans and our plans will put us in head-to-head competition with them given I-T's emphasis on day-trading rooms. Schwab and E*trade might need to watch themselves though...Maybe someone who has done some studying in this industry can comment on this. I just received an email from a shareholder who says he has installed IT software on his laptop and he is "now in business" -- he said he had been making his trades with I-T by phone. It is good to hear from a user of the system! Everyone mark your calendars. Today is June 9, 1999, IMHO a very important day for all of us. PCM GO PABN!!!