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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LABMAN who wrote (9143)	11/1/1999 9:58:00 PM
From: ecommerceman	Respond to of 13953

Interesting comments from the Bull Mkt. 5. $$$ OLD LINE BROKERAGE THROWS OFF THE GLOVES By Michael Makowsky, Contributing Editor and Todd Shaver, Editor in Chief, The Bull Market Report But.But.but it was the ONLINE brokers that started it. Yes, that's right, the dynamics of every school-yard fight have emerged in the brokerage business. And now, having wiped the blood from its nose, Old-line brokerage is fighting back. And fighting back with a vigor. Surrounded by throngs of cheering investors, greedily exchanging bets amongst themselves, with dust flying, the online discount brokers and old-line brokers have been duking it out. And for a while it looked like old-line brokerage was on the ropes. But, despite early indicators, we may be in for a much longer battle than we had initially anticipated. And old-line brokerage may have just taken the upper-hand. How did the full service brokerage houses bring about this radical transition? They stole right from their enemy's arsenals, and added their own special touch. Imagine that you could execute all of your trades online, whenever you wanted. Imagine that you had the backing and resources of one of the biggest brokerages in history. Now imagine that you could trade as much as you wanted. Imagine that you could place as many buy stops, sell stops, and limit orders as your heart desired. Now imagine that you could do it all by paying a flat fee, a small percentage of your assets every year. That is a powerful concept for serious investors. Oh baby, this is getting interesting. So, if I can have unlimited trading, why would I stay with my online discount broker? Well, first of all, do you have a $50,000 account? If you don't, you are not eligible for the unlimited trading program. Do you make a lot of trades? If you only make 30 trades a year, you are still better off paying $15 a trade. The point is, the battle is neither won nor lost, at least in terms of customer acquirement. But for investors in brokerage company stocks, this becomes a little tougher. Online-discounters are having a heck of a time making money, with margins shrinking and shrinking. The old-liners, with the bigger margins, and customers with bigger accounts, are tried and true cash machines. Could it be the true that the future of brokerage may actually lie with the companies of old? So where should your money be? Well, we think there are three places to be now. The true old time champs, such as Merrill Lynch (MER) and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MSDW), and with the hybrid king, Charles Schwab (SCH). The third place is with the one pure online-discounter that we think stands the best chance of surviving, E-Trade. These guys are poised to be the big winners. The losers are a little tougher to pick, but we have lost confidence in Southwest Securities (SWS) and TWE. They just aren't doing what it takes to a be a survivor in this arena.