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

To: Keith Lenart who wrote (11618)	4/13/1999 6:37:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16892

Keith, I sympathize totally - I know this scenario so, so, so well. I've experienced stuff like this many times. It really makes you feel like sh*t - when your "winning" trades turn to lossess of thousands of $, not because the issue is "volatile" (this is an additional risk), but simply because of problems at your broker (the very same "volatile" stocks had no problem executing at TradeStar today). The fact is, that you are taking your (financial) life into your hands when you trade with Datek. As to closing your account... well, today people had problems at Etrade, Schwab, and other brokers. I'm not saying "don't close" your Datek account. Just, you may have to adjust your trading to Datek's weakness - which is tragic, knowing how good Datek CAN be. The solution, in my view, is to have at least 3-4 brokers.

To: Keith Lenart who wrote (11618)	4/13/1999 9:44:00 PM
From: Bob Rudd	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 16892

I just read a book [Electronic Day Trading, Nassar] on daytrading that praised the advantages of what they called EDAT or electronic direct access trading...evidently you have to go to a broker sponsored trading room to do it. A key advantage was that unlike online brokers like Daytek where the order is essentially emailed to the broker then forwarded to trading desk, this EDAT system is a direct connect..much faster and surer approach. There also were superior info support systems like Level II quotes. Of course cost would be higher. I was looking at Datek as a possible replacement for 2 [slow]online brokers I currently use, but your tale of woe brings home the idea that maybe these conventional online brokers just aren't structured to handle daytrading these rocket-sled type stocks reliably.