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Pastimes : ISOMAN AND HIS CAVE OF SOLITUDE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ISOMAN who wrote (339)	3/21/2000 10:43:00 AM
From: wlcnyc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 539

Isoman, Just a brief note on Citicorp - Just to give you some of the basics....and my view..... $19.95 for online (and phone) trades plus 1.50 postage and handling - by investment services representative start at 29.95 for up to 100 shares but gets more complicated from there.... Order for equities less $1 a shares canNOT be entered online! The system is NOT user friendly. It is extremely "klunky." For example, each transaction (i.e, order entry, order review, etc.,) is preceded by a full screen of "disclaimer" which you must accept to continue. Orders cannot be changed - they must be canceled and re-entered in two separate transactions. In other words, I would no recommend Citicorp. I got involved with them because I have an account with Citibank and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It is convenient - for transferring funds - or at least it should be - from one hand to the other - but even that they screwed up this week! LOL If you would still like more info, let me know. Bill

To: ISOMAN who wrote (339)	3/23/2000 5:33:00 AM
From: wlcnyc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 539

Iso.. Re Brokers..I have a question for you or anyone else, but first let me answer one of yours concerning Fidelity: "Does your account update instantly or does it take 24 hours for changes to appear..." The "Positions" screen (such as it is) is updated to show the change in quantity. That is to say, a bolded line is added to show an updated quantity. Prices/values are updated overnight only (Balances are updated overnight only as well). However, it is this screen that I have a question about. When I first opened an account with Fidelity I was puzzled by the "Closing Prices" that were displayed on the screen and I sent an e-mail to them. Below is an excerpt from the response that I got explaining the pricing. Is this a "common" practice with brokers? "Mr. xxxxxx, Thank you for your message. We appreciate your taking the time to contact us online. Equities on our system are priced daily by IDC (Interactive Data Corporation). The closing price for the trade date is provided for equities listed on the major exchanges such as the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ NMS, Midwest and Philadelphia. Prices for NASDAQ Non-NMS (National Market System), small cap and bulletin board listed securities are as follows: - If the security is trading we receive the high, low and close - If the position is long in the account, the low from the previous day is used. - If the position is short in the account, the high from the previous day is used. If the security is not trading we receive the bid, ask and average of the bid and ask from IDC. - If the position is long in the account, the last bid from the previous day is used. - If the position is short in the account, the last ask from the previous day is used If a bulletin board issue is not trading and no bid or ask....... John xxxxxxxxxxx Fidelity Brokerage Services, Inc., Member NYSE, SIPC" Fortunately, I do not use margin much, BUT yesterday was a prime example of the havoc of what such a practice can play with margin accounts. For example, I hold TCLN (NASDQ-SC)which closed at 7 1/8 on Tuesday, but it showed in my account with a closing price of 3 7/8 (and thus market value!) because it did dip to that in the a.m. Back to your survey.... Commissions....highly complicated schedule, but as low as $14.95 for "active" traders which I believe they define as 36 trades a year - LOL! However, IMO, an active trader, even by their definition, would give up on their less than adequate syatem. I use Microsoft Investor (msn.com) to attempt to maintain some sort of dynamic record of my account since there is no adequate facility for this on Fidelity's site. Power Street?! LOL! Again, IMO, is a JAVA face on a troubled system. It puts "links" to EVERYTHING on one screen, but you still gotta get there. Just as a note....I use five brokers - Citicorp, Fidelity, DLJ, E-Trade and Web St. I could NEVER answer all your questions about any of them, but, and, I will probably get "killed" for this, BUT.... For pennys I would recommend Web St - $14.95 unlimited quantity....I would add that I have heard many complaints about executions, but I am not doing as much penny "pinching" as I used to do. AND, of the 5, with whatever other faults Web St may have, none does a better job of REAL time updating of accounts. Bill