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Non-Tech : CYBERTRADER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Rudd who wrote (2350)	4/14/1999 3:15:00 PM
From: William W. Dwyer, Jr.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3216

For All: I found a very helpful newsletter-advisory service that may be of interest. rightline.net This is for The Right Line Split Report. I was introduced to it recently by another member here and have been reading their newsletters for about two weeks now. I am quite impressed. It has changed my entire way of thinking about trading in the stock market. Anyone else who is still looking for a better way to trade may want to check out this site and sign up for their free two-week trial subscription. Very good stuff, imho. Bill

To: Bob Rudd who wrote (2350)	4/14/1999 4:44:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3216

Bob Rudd - that's a very hard question to answer... apples and oranges. Cyber is strictly a daytrading broker - you have access to a different set of tools to use in the market. Datek can be used to daytrade, but it can also be an excellent broker to invest with (or position trade). To use Cyber, you really have to understand routing and order handling - otherwise, all the "fancy" tools are lost to you. Datek takes care of all that - all you have to do is enter orders. If you are just starting out trading, I would recommend Datek hands down. There is a lot to learn before you can handle all the tools Cyber (and other direct order entry brokers) offers. Margin policies - if you use margin heavily - Datek wins hands down - Cyber uses the daytrading margin policies. Shorting - comparable (Datek used to be better); accounting (Cyber clears through Penson) - I think Datek has got their act together better, but I'm only going from what I hear (I haven't had any problems with Datek, but neither have I had any with Penson - thus far). Executions? That's extremely hard to say - on a good day, I believe Datek is clearly superior with ISLD orders (the majority of traders go through ISLD), and even their listed stocks orders are handled excellently - Datek's order handling software is the best in the business. On the other hand, if you really, really know what you are doing, Cyber offers greater flexibility. However, these things change, and recently Cyber has improved their access to ISLD. That brings up my next issue: Judging who is best, is very hard, simply because the landscape changes so dramatically, so fast. Imagine you look at the sky, and ask which cloud looks the most beautiful - the answer is that it changes every minute. Had you asked me 1 month ago, I'd have said Datek is better - no doubt about it. But Datek can have extremely bad problems - yesterday was just awful (busy servers), and basically, you couldn't trade (and certainly not daytrade), while yesterday Cyber had no problems at all (at least in my experience). Today Cyber disconnected me once, and had frozen quotes at least twice that I noticed (on NITE): at 1:32 and 2:02 PM EST. Datek was horrible again, but their streamer worked just fine. So how to judge? Cyber keeps adding tools and refining their package. So does Datek. Who's ahead? Sometime one, sometime the other. Cyber used to break down and crash the computer - hasn't happened last two days. Datek never crashes, but the servers can get so bogged down that it's useless - the last two days. IMO, you should have at least two brokers at your disposal. That way you hope at least one is working on any given day. Bottom line: both brokers have their uses. IMO, if you are a newbie, go with Datek - it's easier to use and cheaper. If you are an experienced trader, or want to learn to become one - Cyber is a good choice (once you've already gained some experience trading with LII - I would recommend you start first with Datek and order independent LII quotes, and learn to trade). Datek is certainly more versatile - and has more uses - it's a kind of a Ferrari... you can take it around town, and it won't do too shabby on a racetrack either; Cyber is like a formula one race car - useful only if you are very skilled, and you just want to race (but it's very temperamental, and can break down). Sorry for such an indefinite answer, but that's as well as I can do. Good luck! Morgan