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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marketbrief.com who wrote (3709)	9/8/1999 9:00:00 PM
From: marketbrief.com	Respond to of 18137

Senate Panel Plans to Hold Hearings This Month on Day-Trading Industry By GREG IP Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL A Senate committee expects to hold hearings on the day-trading industry Sept. 16, adding to recent scrutiny from regulators and others. "We're going to hear from some regulators and representatives of the industry, and get both sides of the story, what's going on with all the controversy and general interest on the subject of day trading," said Brian Jones, an investigator with the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations. Day traders make rapid stock trades in an effort to make quick profits during the day, with the objective of finishing the day having closed out all their positions. Day traders primarily operate out of specialized brokerage firms that offer direct access to the market from workstations. Scrutiny of day trading has intensified since Atlanta day trader Mark O. Barton went on a shooting rampage in late July after racking up big losses at two brokerage firms.Bill Singer, a New York attorney representing several day-trading firms,said the Senate's hearing, coming in addition to separate investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, state regulators and the National Association of Securities Dealers, amounted to overkill. "The day-trading community is very concerned it's going to get sandbagged," Mr. Singer said. He expressed concern that the Senate is operating on the assumption that there is a day-trading problem, that many day traders have complaints or problems about the practice and that the government should regulate it. Mr. Jones said the subcommittee's chairman,Susan Collins (R., Maine), had asked the subcommittee to look into the industry long before the Barton shootings. He said among those who have agreed to appear are Arthur Levitt, SEC chairman; Peter C. Hildreth, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, which represents state regulators; Mary Schapiro, president of the NASD's regulatory arm; and Saul Cohen, of the Electronic Traders Association, which represents day-trading firms. In August, state securities regulators issued a report that was critical of the day-trading industry. It alleged that some firms didn't adequately disclose the risks of this type of trading. Write to Greg Ip at gregory.ip@wsj.com