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To: Mama Bear who wrote (1005)	3/29/1999 1:15:00 AM
From: B. A. Marlow	Respond to of 1260

Thanks, Mama. Always fascinating how brokerages are "smart" enough to discriminate among Net stocks with respect to margin requirements but not smart enough to cover them! (Of course, Waterhouse doesn't apparently employ analysts anyway.) For example, XCIT is 100%, but ATHM is 30%?! AMZN is 100%, but YHOO is 30%?! Amazing! Sure, the Web brokers are going for scale. But online brokerage is moving quickly from numbers of accounts to assets under management. Once you get tired of unprofitable entry-level accounts costing $3-400 a pop to acquire, you decide you need more assets per account. And this is where the rubber meets the road. If you don't offer these people value, you don't get 'em. You raise an interesting point about gamblers, but this can be controlled via account set-up provisions. A gambler's likely to end up trading options, so volatility will continue through the back door. BAM