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Strategies & Market Trends : Rande Is . . . HOME -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (48780)	3/10/2001 5:17:34 PM
From: ~digs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

cnet.com SEC Tightens Equity-Margin Rule for Day Traders on NYSE, NASDAQ 3/8/01 3:27 PM Source:Bloomberg News Washington, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a rule that day traders keep at least $25,000 of equity in an account if they use borrowed money to trade on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market. Until now, any trader on margin -- using borrowed money -- needed to maintain a minimum account of $2,000. At the same time, the SEC eased another margin restriction. Traders with the necessary equity will be allowed to borrow four times the amount of equity or cash in their accounts. Until now, they could borrow just twice what they had in equity. The rule defines a day trader as someone who buys and then sells stock in one day, known as ''round trips,'' four times over a five-day period, unless those trades comprise less than 6 percent of the trader's total trades, said Amy Hyland, spokesman for the National Association of Securities Dealers. ''I think this is by and large a net positive move,'' said James Lee, president of Momentum Securities and head of the Electronic Traders Association, a trade group of day-trading firms. Lee predicted the new rules will have a major impact on a category of day traders he calls ''day traders lite'' -- a group he estimates at between 400,000 to 500,000 people using online accounts run by Charles Schwab Corp., E*Trade Group and similar online firms. The rule changes won't make much difference, he said, for the 10,000 to 15,000 professionals that he estimates trade at professional day-trading firms like his, where $85,000 is the average account equity. Professional day-trading firms charge investors for use of computerized trading systems that offer near-instantaneous access to the stock market. The day traders seek profits by anticipating quick movements in stock and by trading in high volumes. The day-trading industry has come under close scrutiny since July 1999, when Atlanta day trader Mark Barton killed 12 people and wounded 12 others before killing himself leaving a note that cited trading losses.

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (48780)	3/10/2001 6:59:48 PM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57584

Mr. Jepson, re: cooking the books. I have a question perhaps you can address. During Christmas vacation, my younger college guy worked a bit at Abercromie & Fitch...his first real job. His first paycheck was more than $200 and he received that paycheck before the end of December. Then, in January, after he had gone back to school, he got a small paycheck of about $35. In short, he got the big paycheck first.....during year 2000, and the little paycheck later, during 2001....yet the W-2 form provided by ANF claimed that his only compensation in year 2000 was the little $35 paycheck received in 2001. Didn't make sense.....makes me suspect ANF was giving the appearance of forwarding some payroll expenses into the New Year to make 2000 earnings look better. Is this common for a retailer? Is it kosher?