Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : The Final Frontier - Online Remote Trading -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arcane Lore who wrote (7670)	9/16/1999 6:14:00 PM
From: Rick Faurot	Respond to of 12617

news story on this issue: cbs.marketwatch.com

To: Arcane Lore who wrote (7670)	9/16/1999 7:47:00 PM
From: hasan syed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12617

Another article: SEC finds possible misdoing at day-trading firms By Reuters Special to CNET News.com September 16, 1999, 10:50 a.m. PT URL: news.cnet.com WASHINGTON--The Securities and Exchange Commission has discovered at least 10 instances of possible wrongdoing in an investigative sweep of day trading firms, SEC chairman Arthur Levitt told Congress today. The examination into the practices of 30 firms has led to 10 referrals to the SEC's enforcement division, Levitt told a Senate hearing on day trading, adding that his agency's investigation of 15 other firms is still pending. The SEC's probe of the largest and most active firms has found problems with money lending and misleading advertising, among other things, the SEC chairman testified. "Firms were simply sloppy with basic procedures," Levitt told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations. "I find that worrisome. The number of referrals indicates clearly there is a problem." But, Levitt told Congress, "to date we have not found marked and widespread fraud by these firms." According to the SEC, day trading is practiced by less than 7,000 people, who use computers to rapidly click in and out of stocks in hopes of capitalizing on price changes. By comparison, there are some 80 million individuals that own stock and more than 5 million who use Internet brokerages, Levitt said. Day trading firms, which number around 100 in total, were attacked in a recent report by state regulators who accused them of promoting get-rich-quick hype, among other things. The report came from a group of state regulators called the North American Securities Administrators Association. The industry got even more attention after the July shooting spree by Mark Barton, a day-trader who killed nine people at two Atlanta brokerages where he traded. It was reported that Barton apparently had become angry about the substantial losses he incurred. The SEC chairman told the lawmakers that day trading, while not illegal, is "very risky." At the same time, "the commission also does not believe that day trading currently presents systemic problems for our markets," he said.

To: Arcane Lore who wrote (7670)	9/17/1999 12:12:00 AM
From: TFF	Respond to of 12617

Day trading is like so "last year". Long live speculation<g>

To: Arcane Lore who wrote (7670)	9/19/1999 12:07:00 PM
From: Arcane Lore	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12617

Wild Times After Hours By GRETCHEN MORGENSON ... But an even greater concern is that rules intended to protect investors may be ignored by players in after-hours markets. Consider, for example, a guideline instituted by the National Association of Securities Dealers to insure that a brokerage firm holding an order from a customer to buy or sell a stock at a specific price would not trade that stock for its own account ahead of the customer when the prevailing market for the stock would satisfy the customer's order. Known as the limit-order protection interpretation, it was put into effect in 1995 and made NASDAQ a fairer place to trade stocks. But the interpretation is in force only during the hours that NASDAQ is open, until 5:15 p.m. now and 6:30 p.m. as of Oct. 4. As a result, some market players fear that firms handling investors' trades after hours may ignore the guideline and put their own trading ahead of their customers'. Another investor protection rule that traders may be flouting in after-hours trading has to do with short sales, transactions by investors who are betting that a stock will fall. Traders who want to sell shares short are allowed to do so only when the stock's most recent transaction took place at a price the same as or higher than its previous trade. This is called the uptick rule, and was instituted to protect stocks from being manipulated downward by relentless short-selling. In after-hours trading, however, there is no consolidated record of trades taking place among the disparate firms and markets. So traders say short sales are very likely taking place even when a stock is dropping in price. ... The full article can be found at: nytimes.com (Free registration required)