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Non-Tech : Datek Brokerage $9.95 a trade -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Morpher who wrote (13975)	1/31/2000 5:33:00 PM
From: John Waddell, Ph.D	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16892

Help for Active Traders I sent the following message to Datek over the weekend. Since most of the people on this board are probably active traders, I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks. ______________________________________________________ One of the main selling points for trading with Datek is your emphasis on quick executions and support for active traders. I have found your service excellent in this area. I'm writing you about another important part of this process: Trader interaction with your input and report screens. I'm a psychologist (and trader) with an interest in human/machine interactions. Your screens have some stumbling blocks which needlessly slow order processing, and thus execution. Additionally, one of the most important pieces of real-estate for traders is their computer screens. Your express order page has instructions (e.g. how to sign up for extended hours) that take up space which could be used for market information. More than one window is also required for order entry and confirmation. Below is a design for a compact, highly efficient execution system for trading one stock at a time. Different traders have different needs. Since your servers simply send and receive standard strings of information from customer's screens, you have leeway in the number and type of screens you can provide your traders. Thus, I hope you will consider the following recommendations. The customer benefits for providing additional or improved screens will far outweigh your costs of implementation. EXPRESS TRADING SYSTEM When express customers first log on they will be given a Welcome screen with the latest messages from Datek and options for customizing order entry. The Welcome screen also contains a link to instructions for using the various trading screens and links to the actual screens. There are no instructions (or other extraneous information) on the advanced trading screens themselves. Single-Stock Trading Screen Starting in the upper left corner: [Account Balance] <blue Button to Update the screen> [Buying Power] (If it would take too long to update the Buying Power every time the screen is refreshed, then include a checkbox to toggle this feature.) Second line: <green BUY Button> [Quantity] [Symbol] [Price] [Password] <red SELL Button> <Checkbox to toggle Stop Order> [Stop Limit] Stop orders are used less frequently, so traders can choose to display the screen only up to the width of the Sell button. There is no <Order Type>. If Price is filled in, it is a limit order. If Stop is checked, it is a Stop order. If Stop Limit is filled, it is a Stop Limit Order. If none of these is filled, it is a market order. There is no <Expire> field. Expiration for all orders from this screen is chosen under Options in the Welcome screen. (Traders will be reminded what type of order they are using by the Order Status.) Below these entry fields would be the information found in your Daily Activity screen, with the exception of Balance, which is in the upper left corner. There would be one important change, however: The most recent activity would be listed on top, rather than last. (In fact, if you would simply change this one thing on your current Daily Activity screen, it would be a great time saver. After several orders, one has to constantly go from the top to the bottom of the screen to read the current order, and then back to the top to refresh the screen.) When the Buy or Sell button is hit, the only thing that would change is the addition of the order in the daily activity part of the screen. All the entered data (quantity, symbol, price) would remain unchanged. This makes it very efficient to move in and out of one stock. There is no <Cancel Checked Orders Button> To cancel an order, one simply checks Cxl and hits the Update button. ************* The above is a single, compact screen for processing trades quickly. It is not for everyone. Some will certainly want to have a compact screen just for order entry, or a screen to enter multiple trades. However, a fair number of your traders will appreciate anything you can do to make the good system you already have even more efficient. John Waddell