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

To: Andrew Martin who wrote (10977)	2/10/1999 8:10:00 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 16892

Hmmm. Windows between order takeouts and confirmations. Did you have the deal confirmed immediately? (I suppose yes when you mentioned the crappy marketprice). You used a market sales order for that big amount of shares - could you watch L II to see how the bid order "depth" is? The "bid" was asking 4700 (so I understand it, bidding made no sense - you sold shares rather bought) I'd rather use tight limit orders. Market orders ónly for small quantities and when I want to get out quick, say into a spike. But as I use limit orders, I get confirmations with a 3-4 Min delay. Recently I sold a stock twice in the morning because I hadn't an execution earlier. When I got a fill in a market buy in Netscape (back in july) at 42 7/8 when it asked 42 1/8, I got cautious - especially when the bid-ask was not loosely quoted but 1/16-tight with good sizes. Therefore.. C.

To: Andrew Martin who wrote (10977)	2/10/1999 8:13:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Respond to of 16892

Andrew, sorry to butt in. The one aspect of Datek I'm most happy with are executions. Therefore I'm interested to see if what you described is really due to Datek. First, what stock was it? As you know, Datek owns ISLD. This is a very active and liquid ECN. It also has a very broad number of Nasdaq stocks that trade there, and the range of quotes on the orders hitting it, is perhaps the greatest of any ECN (certainly greater than INCA). They have a very efficient electronic system of matching orders, so you cut out the MMs, and this helps the spread. However, there are stocks which nobody at the moment is trading through ISLD. ISLD can be hit by an MM through a Snet, or your order may be Snet out to an MM, and then it really is out of the hands of Datek. In that case, your order may be 'messed' with by the MM who for whatever reason is not honoring his quote (this happens particularly with thinly traded stocks, which don't have many active MMs), or the MM may be trading around your order. Obviously, I don't know the particulars of your case, and Datek may be culpable - however, it might be worth looking into other aspects of your trade to see if there really was a problem at Datek's end. Morgan