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To: techguerrilla who wrote (11403)	4/6/2000 5:12:00 PM
From: freeus	Respond to of 35685

I'm so glad that USNews called you and you let them know about that. I hope it is in the article. This sudden changes of maintenance...I heard that emlx was put on NO MARGIN and holders are not "grandfathered" in...causing horrid margin calls after it had a minus 56 day. Rotten: to me it sounds like many of these companies are CAUSING margin calls on purpose. I hope the newspaper writes it that way. I'm sick of this "Congressional inquiry" crap into our trading patterns: most of us use margin responsibly but it's difficult to do when your broker changes the rules whimsically and with no warning. Freeus

To: techguerrilla who wrote (11403)	4/6/2000 7:34:00 PM
From: Jill	Respond to of 35685

John, not everybody has an 80% maintenance requirement for QCOM at Fidelity. I have 50%. They raise it when you are overweighted in the issue and on significant margin already. I don't think it's a bad idea--I DON'T think many investors use margin sensibly. As you noticed, there were tons of margin calls Monday and Tuesday. Probably NOT because Monday morning margin requirements suddenly changed. Morel ikely because people were buying up speculative issues in a frenzy. I actually think the online brokerages have no other recourse--they can't monitor all the individuals using online accounts, and they need to protect themselves and their clients. Jill