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

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/6/1998 10:46:00 AM
From: Jon Tara	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Hey, so get them candles, Peter! They can light them with some of our posts. ;)

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/6/1998 11:15:00 AM
From: Mighty_Mezz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Peter - Is Datek's computer system all set for the change to Y2K?

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/6/1998 12:09:00 PM
From: Jumper	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16892

Re: New Equity Calculations roll against the consumer. Since my E*Mails have gone unanswered, I will write you here. The new method of arriving at account equity is a considerable disadvantage for me and is nothing more than an increase in Datek interest rates. I have not seen much discussion on this board concerning this (My apologies if I have missed it) With the introduction of your new web site came an increase in your interest fees, however, Datek conveniently forgot to mention this fact. Account equity is no longer determined by the last trade on a stock, but by the bid on a long or the ask on a short. Not a big deal if you trade liquid issues, however, small caps and/or junk stocks I like to short often have a 7% spread yet hardly a trade goes through at the bid or ask. This is not even an intra day calculation but on closing balances, account equity determination is way off the mark. I would estimate that I am paying interest fees on an additional 5,000 a day with this switch. Real Time account equity was such a strong point of your previous service. This matter is significant enough that I am looking for an alternative trading vehicle. Could you write me back when you get a chance.

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/7/1998 12:31:00 AM
From: GR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

I see a recurring problem.You MUST invest the time and money to triple back up all your systems.With peoples life savings on the line nothing else will do. Also,you MUST try to alleviate the opening and closing order entry problems. I am not being facetious,but don't you access your servers and test them each day before the opening?What is the problem for these consistent bottleneck and or system failure problems that seem to be occuring more regularly?

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/8/1998 4:31:00 PM
From: B.K. Ohneis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Mr. Peter Stern: It appears that there is some interest in a comment from you on the following posting. Please grant us an audience! Thanks. ***************** To: Jon Tara (7268 ) From: B.K. Ohneis Sunday, Mar 8 1998 5:58AM EST Reply # of 7273 <<message from Jon Tara on Mar 8 1998 2:58AM EST I think that the new Datek equity calculation is entirely proper. Your equity is the amount that you would receive if you sold your portfolio immediately. Thus, the bid for longs, the offer for shorts. I strongly suspect that the NASD and SEC would agree with Datek's calculation. Sorry.>> thank you for your assertion but i was asking for the Datek formula for calculating margin interest. do you know how they do it? i agree with you if the equity calculation on the portfolio window has meaning only for the customer's equity in terms of how money he may still have. my question is, however, does that affect the amount of margin interest he has to pay, as a fellow asked in a previous posting. if you have no idea what that question is, here is a possible way that the calculation may have some effect: you bot 1000 EGRP at 25 and borrowed half of the money from Datek, say, 12500. now EGRP dropped to 20, your equity is now only 10000. your real cash in the portfolio window is -2500. your current purchasing power would be deducted by -2500 (is this correct or not? Mr. Peter Stern, please comment). the big question is, does the customer have to pay interest on this "-2500"? Does Datek think that it has lent 15000 to the customer? I understand that this drop of equity does not affect the purchasing power or margin interest of the customer in my other brokerage account, since the reduction in the customer's equity does not affect the money that the broker lent to the customer when the purchase was made. Of course, if the drop comes to the house call rule, then all hell will come. The Datek method of calculating purchasing power would reduce your purchasing when you send in new money to the account. say you send in 10000 now, your purchase power would not be 20000, but (20000-2500). this is not a good method for a long term investor, and that is way, i only sent in one quarter of my money to my Datek account. Actually, i believe some friends of mine also do the same. Datek is actually losing business because of this. Any comments, please, especially from Datek. Perhaps we should have been able to figure out how Datek is doing but i found no explanation in the statements i have received. the margin interest is billed as "Margin, $**", no explanation whatsoever. Other brokers tell me margin at __% on average balance of ___". the Datek number so appears to be from the black hole.

To: Peter Stern who wrote (7239)	3/9/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: Candle stick	Respond to of 16892

Peter Stern, when are you going to fix the TABS on classic express server 7 so that we can easily tab across the order entry fields??????? We have been asking for this for weeks........!!!!! Express server purpose is defeated by not being able to tab across the order form quickly. Are you aware of this problem?!?!?!?!