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To: TFF who wrote (6830)	3/25/1999 8:07:00 PM
From: agent99	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12617

SEC Commissioner: Day traders number about 3,000 Posted at 12:07 p.m. PST Thursday, March 25, 1999 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There are about 3,000 individuals out there engaged in day trading, some of them former used car salesmen and students, a commissioner at the SEC profiled Thursday at a Congressional hearing. ''I believe it's about 3,000 individuals who are engaged in day trading activities and there are about 100 firms that are conducting in day trading activities as well,'' the Securities and Exchange Commission's Laura Unger told a House hearing on the effect of technology on the capital markets. The commissioner told the House subcommittee on capital markets, securities and government sponsored enterprises that she wondered who these day traders were. ''Where were these people before? Were the day traders participating in the investment community before? Were they different types of investors? What's their personality profile?'' ''They were used car salesmen, and we've seen students,'' she testified. ''I've read articles about someone who used to work at a taco stand.'' Unger was perhaps referring to reports that some people have quit their jobs looking to make a quick buck in day trading, where they sit in front of a computer moving in and out of stocks hoping to capitalize on the slightest movement in stock prices. Some of them conduct transactions via the Internet or use computers at an established day trading firm. ''They get on the Internet, make a few correct predictions and they establish a following,'' she told the lawmakers. Unger said that since the SEC regulates brokerage firms and not investors, the commission, along with the National Association of Securities Dealers, have been inspecting these firms to ensure that they're ''operating within the regulations.'' Separately, Unger, who is the SEC's point person on Y2K readiness, predicted that the commission itself will be compliant by Aug. 31, the same date by which brokerage firms are required to file compliance reports with the SEC. ''I expect we'll be ready by then as well, that's what we anticipate,'' she told reporters after she testified.