Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Hua who wrote (34349)	5/3/1999 11:45:00 PM
From: Sammy Adams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

<NY Times Article> Regulators Probing Online Brokerages nytimes.com WASHINGTON (AP) -- Securities regulators have been fanning out across the country investigating online brokerage firms and day-trading companies as they consider drafting new rules for the fast-growing electronic trading business. The government's top securities regulator is expected to announce a new initiative on Tuesday. The investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Securities Dealers, a self-policing brokers' group, has been conducted over the past two months or so. The auditors are looking for possible violations of securities laws as well as examining how well the firms execute customers' orders and warn them of trading risks. The SEC ''has been reviewing the policies and practices of day-trading and online trading firms over the past few months for compliance with the securities laws,'' agency spokesman Duncan King said Monday. He said the areas of inquiry include trade execution issues as well as the disclosure of risk. SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, who warned investors early this year to use caution in electronic trading, plans to announce Tuesday a new related move by the agency, according to two regulatory sources. They spoke on condition of anonymity. Spokesmen for the NASD declined to comment on the investigation. Details of the probe were first reported by The Washington Post in Saturday's editions. ''They came in here and very thoroughly reviewed us,'' said James Lee, head of Momentum Securities Inc., a day-trading company based in Houston with 11 offices nationwide. In addition, the auditors have visited ''every day-trading firm I know'' in recent weeks, said Lee, who also is chairman and president of the Electronic Traders Association. That would mean about 15 firms. By year's end, an estimated 10 million amateur investors will be doing at least occasional trading over the Internet, and online brokerage accounts will represent about a quarter of all retail stock trades. The biggest online brokerages include Charles Schwab, Ameritrade, Datek Online, DLJdirect, Discover Brokerage and E Trade Securities. Spokesmen for some of them declined comment Monday. In an inquiry sparked by investors' complaints about recent computer system crashes at online firms that caused trading delays, New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office has asked several firms to provide reports on their services. The world of electronic day trading is much smaller but also growing. Day traders seek out stocks, especially of high-tech companies, solely for sharp price swings and buy and sell them quickly to profit from short-term movements in price. Day-trading companies sell training courses and special software programs to ordinary investors who want to try the risky, lightning-speed practice. Richard Walker, the SEC's enforcement director, said in March that the agency was, among other things, examining the advertisements of day-trading firms to see if they make unrealistic promises to investors. State securities regulators also have been scrutinizing day-trading firms and a handful of them, particularly in Massachusetts, have filed fraud charges. Operators of the day-trading firms acknowledge they're not for everyone, but they contend state regulators are unfairly tarnishing the industry because of a few rogue firms that may have misled investors. Lee, of the electronic traders' group, said he believed the purpose of the investigation was ''as much information-gathering as they are going after people.'' ''I look at this as (the regulators) trying to understand what's going on,'' he said. The NASD, which operates the Nasdaq Stock Market, has been considering since March a new rule that would require day-trading firms to screen investors and warn them in writing of the risks. In related moves Monday, state securities regulators announced they have formed a task force to examine online trading issues such as advertising and customer order processing. And the Securities Industry Association issued a brochure for investors titled ''Online Investing Tips.'' It is available on the trade group's Web site at www.sia.com.

To: Tom Hua who wrote (34349)	5/3/1999 11:56:00 PM
From: J.Y. Wang	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

<PCLN> Playing devil's advocate here... AMZN has 7 times the market cap of BKS and BGP combined (keep in mind that BKS and BGP also owns the majority of those bookstores in the malls -- Waldenbooks, etc.) and it's still there. PCLN is also selling a lot more than airline tickets. PCLN has a market cap of $20 billion. It is obscene, but is PCLN at $20b any more obscene than TUNE at $10 billion, INSP at $2.5 billion or even EFAX at $250 million? Most internet stocks are way overvalued. I don't see PCLN tanking if net stocks in general hold.