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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (10182)	7/29/1999 5:12:00 PM
From: Rande Is	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 57584

Atlanta daytrading room shooting. . . You can bet he had a margin account. You go into those rooms with 50,000 bucks. . . it might be your entire life savings. . . or a settlement on a debilitating injury. . . .and after a crash course on trading. . .they give you as much as 250,000 buying power. . . especially if you have shown some winners, [easy in Jan/Feb/Mar]. . . and there you are at your highly complicated terminal . . . trading away the day . . . day after day after day. But you haven't made enough mistakes to know what you are doing yet. . .yet you hear about how many traders have made a fortune on internet stocks. . . so you start trading YHOO, DCLK, EBAY and AMZN. . . with reckless abandon. Many daytraders have little experience and don't understand the market trends, swings or manipulation that occurs. . . they can really take it in the shorts. Just a 25 percent loss on your 250k margin account means that not only did you lose ALL of your original 50k, but also about 20k of house money. Do you know why they call it "house" money? Because if you gamble it away, you can lose your house. This man could very well have lost his house by daytrading from a margin account. Back in April, when the market turned south, he may have been caught at the highs. . . . and now 3 months later, could be finding himself looking for a new place to live. . . and if his family left him as a result of his misguided mistakes. . . . . . well. . . 5 dead . . so far and dozens injured. We pray God's mercy and comfort on everyone concerned. Rande Is PS> This is truly a tragedy. . .and one that should be addressed by securities regulators. I don't believe in margin accounts. . .and ESPECIALLY not in daytrading. You can have your broker place restrictions on your own trading accounts. Never "trade" more than 10 percent of your total portfolio. . . and never place at risk more than you can afford to lose. And remember. . .daytrading is a form of gambling and can be very addictive. If you think you might have a problem, please call Gamblers Anonymous.