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

To: Luke_Skywalker who wrote (9448)	8/12/1998 3:24:00 PM
From: INFO_DART	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Have a complaint form handy nasdr.com

To: Luke_Skywalker who wrote (9448)	8/12/1998 4:23:00 PM
From: Morpher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16892

I am a beginning daytrader - having paper traded for several months I am now confident that I can start doing some REAL trades. Can someone tell me if Datek is a good broker to start with? If you are serious about daytrading, go with one of the firms mentioned here: #reply-5446720. Open a Datek account only if you won't trade in the mornings, don't care about Level II quotes, fastest possible executions or order entry.

To: Luke_Skywalker who wrote (9448)	8/12/1998 5:16:00 PM
From: Billy Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Paper trading doesn't work. Use the brokerage firm with the cheapest commission. This way when you lose your ass because paper trading doesn't work, you can at least say you spent most of your money on bad trading and not commissions.

To: Luke_Skywalker who wrote (9448)	8/15/1998 12:40:00 AM
From: Esteban	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 16892

Luke, Sure, paper trading is no substitute for actual trading, but it is an essential prerequisite to trading success. Be sure to paper trade "live", not just from historical tick charts, before putting money on the line. You'll find when you actually begin to trade that there are a lot more obstacles in your path than you anticipated, but if you're paper trading theory is valid and you are psychologically able to stick to rules you have developed and continue to develop, you should be able to overcome the obstacles. One BIG hurdle that keeps many daytraders in the red is the high cost of trading. Even at Datek commission rates, 10 round turns a day is 1000 dollars a week. And don't forget the cost of buying on the ask and selling on the bid. $20 round turn plus spread puts you in the hole everytime you take a position. Be sure to figure these costs, or higher on other systems, in your model. Most daytraders figure on trading 1000 shares and it's difficult to make money trading less because of the commission cost as a percentage of profit. Despite what some have claimed on the thread, Datek is a viable daytrading alternative, depending on your style, the times you are trading, and the stocks you plan to trade. Very fast scalping techniques based on level II interpretation require a more sophisticated system and faster order presentation than Datek provides, at least in the very high volume Nasdaq issues, and during the first 15 minutes of the day on highly active issues. OTH, using the Express Server one can enter orders with one click in only a few seconds, and cancel almost as quickly. With several open windows on the Express server, one can enter and track quite a few orders fairly effortlessly, with practice. There's no other Online retail broker that can match the speed when Datek is working well, which for me is most of the time. I do, however stay away from the issues and times I already mentioned. Forget about Datek for quotes. You need dynamically updating quotes to day trade effectively, even if you are only trying to trade the day's primary trend. Best of luck, Esteban