To: George Acton who wrote (65751 ) 8/4/1999 9:04:00 PM From: Kerry Phineas Respond to
George, I would have responded more earlier, but didn't have time. I thought your post was very cogent and made a number of good points. I agree that there are probably a number of misconceptions about what a "day trader" is. The correct definition would probably be someone who opens and closes their positions each day and ends each session flat, but that definitely isn't the media's definition of day traders. imo the media considers a day trader to be someone who trades stocks during the day; otherwise you wouldn't have the "millions" of day traders. There isn't room for a million people taking advantage of inefficiencies in the market, imo. I never said that the little guy moves the market, but I think it is clear that at least the perception that there is someone out there who will be left holding x or y worthless stock has contributed to some horrendous scams to prop up the market, especially in tech stocks. I think day traders/retirees sitting at home following the market/etc. have been pulled in by these scams and that big time traders have followed them in because they see easy money. The interplay between these has contributed to a situation where fundamentals are not the driving force in the movement of stocks, but instead the perception of what others will think of the most recent news on the stock.
