Re: Online Trading

From: "Michael E. Kurela" <Michael.Kurela@us.coopers.com>
Subject: Re: Online Trading
Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 09:22:32 -0400

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I have been using E-Trade for almost a year now and have mixed
feelings about the service.

On a positive note:
*The news resources are good and timely.
*You have the ability to trade stocks, mutual funds, & options
*E-Trade offers check writing privileges
*Offers margin accounts
*You can tie your margin account to your checking, savings, etc.

On a less positive note:
*I, and a considerable number of others, experienced problems
with their website system crashing from time to time which forces
one to make trades over the phone through their brokers.  A 40 minute
wait on hold is not abnormal.  Note that immediate access is more
critical when daytrading than if you are just buying to hold long
positions.  I lost a few thousand dollars due to this problem, and
ended up using Datek and E-Trade at the same time to help get
around their system problems.  Datek seems to have a slightly
more reliable website service.
*E-Trade does not offer free real-time quotes, Datek does.
*E-Trade customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
*You can tie your margin account to your checking, savings, etc. (Yes, this
is
both a good thing and a bad thing)

Since I do not believe in executing market orders, I have never
been able to take advantage of the $9.95 trades or the $14.95
trades.  Most online brokers seem to charge in the neighborhood
of $19.95 and up for Limit orders.

Good luck !

- --mk

>Date: Mon, 04 May 1998 14:28:02 -0500
>From: "Carol B. Tan" <Carol.Tan@us.coopers.com>
>Subject: Online Trading
>
>I hope this is the right address to post this:
>
>I am checking to see if anybody has had experience (good or bad) with
>online trading companies such as E-Trade, Datek, Lombard, etc. Is this as
>reliable as going through a live broker if I already know which stocks I
>want to purchase?  Why is there a difference in the fees (ranging from
>$9.95 to $19.95) aside from the variance based on the number of shares
>purchased?  Thanks!
>
>Carol.






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