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

To: Jon Tara who wrote (7263)	3/7/1998 11:32:00 AM
From: Scott Pedigo	Respond to of 16892

Datek is close to perfect, and has much improved over the past few months. However, this is NOT GOOD ENOUGH and they must deal with the "first 15 minutes" problem. I agree. I must note that compared to the commissions charged by my other broker - First Chicago NBD Investment Services - Datek is a bargain. Anywhere from 1/4 to less than 1/10 of the price per trade. This makes a big difference in my ability to make money on short-term trades, and saves me a few hundreds dollars each on my long-term trades when I buy/sell in the $10K-$20K range. But even though I save money on my long-terms trades, I don't make enough of them for Datek to make money. I might average as little as one per year, for example, if my trading strategy is to do something like buy CPQ or IBM and sit on it. Datek can only make money if I make a lot of trades. I will do this only if I can consistently make money doing swing trading or part-time day trading or whatever you want to call it. In this regard, the first 1/2 hour of the day is the most critical. That is when the stocks are most volatile, presenting the best opportunity for taking a short-term profit. If Datek cannot provide an acceptable level of service during this critical time, then I can't count on making money day trading, and I will have to concentrate more on fundamentals and long-term positions, making a lot less trades, and less money for Datek. Are you listening Datek? It may be that the MM or exchanges or whoever don't like the competition from the horde of amateur investors doing on-line trading, but they should think about it another way - we add a LOT of fluidity to the market, which helps them and everyone. They need to work with Datek to ensure fair trading for everyone or else the amateurs will become soured on the market in general and maybe put their money somewhere else besides the stock market.