edgetrade.com
14/Dec/2000 Floor traders sue ME for $1 million
By: PAUL DELEAN The Gazette
Floor traders who have been on the sidelines since the Montreal Exchange automated their functions last week are suing the exchange for about $1 million, claiming they are owed compensation for the loss of their livelihood.
"Though technically not employees of the exchange, my view is there's a right to compensation in the event the exchange eliminates their right to earn a living," said lawyer Lazar Sarna.
Full story: www.montrealgazette.com/business/pages/001214/5012564.html
21/Nov/2000 NASDAQ ARRIVES IN MONTREAL
Premier Lucien Bouchard was in Montreal on Tuesday afternoon for the
official launch of Nasdaq Canada's operations in Montreal. FULL STORY:
montreal.cbc.ca/cgi-bin/view?/news/2000/11/21/nasdaqmtl001121
21/Nov/2000 Nasdaq launches Phase 1
By: DON MACDONALD The Gazette; CP contributed to this report
Amidst a tech-stock crash, Premier Lucien Bouchard will join top Nasdaq officials today for the Montreal launch of the first phase of Nasdaq's Canadian stock-exchange operations.
Nasdaq chairman Frank Zarb and Nasdaq International president John Wall will be on hand for a breakfast meeting and press conference with Bouchard at Ex-Centris, entrepreneur Daniel Langlois's multimedia palace on St. Laurent Blvd.FULL STORY [some humer]
3/28/00
New Mission for Montreal Exchange Globex will give round the clock access to traders who deal with exchanges around the world. "Globex is going to be the brand; so a person in Hong Kong is not going to worry is
Montreal a good exchange; does it have a proper clearing house, and so on and so forth."
February 19, 2000 Speedup Discount brokers can trade faster DON MACDONALD
The Quebec Securities Commission threw the discount-brokerage
industry a lifeline yesterday by announcing measures to help firms deal
with surging trading volumes.
The discounters have been swamped by frenzied trading activity,
leaving customers waiting on hold for up to two hours to execute
trades over the telephone. Delays on the phone and over the Internet
have sparked outrage among investors from coast to coast.
The QSC announced yesterday that newly recruited employees at
discount brokerages will now be allowed to execute sell orders before
completing a 90-day training period.
Regulators are also waiving the so-called "know your client" rule for
unsolicited sell orders, except for short sales. That rule required
representatives to investigate a client's risk tolerance and investment
objectives before executing a trade.
Web Broker Hit by Dos Attack
Panel Hears Day-Trading Dangers
Saturday, February 19, 2000 Brief outage hits Charles Schwab site
E*Trade offers after-hours trading online CNET News.com August 17, 1999, ...The agreement with Instinet gives E*Trade customers the longest
after-hours trading window, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET, which is
twice as long as E*Trade's nearest competitor, the company said. The
deal also gives customers online access to trading in both listed
NYSE and Nasdaq equities whereas E*Trade said other online brokers
are limited to Nasdaq trading only.
Regulatory heat is nothing new for Harvey Houtkin, the day trading guru. He's spent his career running afoul of Wall Street
Gretchen Morgenson
The New York Times
Harvey Houtkin MBA, standing, president and founder of All-Tech Investment Group, day-trading offices in Montvale, N.J. Mr. Houtkin's operation has come under intense regulatory scrutiny since a day trader killed nine people in Atlanta in July -- five of them at an All-Tech office.
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Harvey Houtkin (last year's pay $919,231) fervently believes that securities regulators are out to get him. But he has no doubt he will go down in history as a man who made Wall Street a better place for the small investor.
The SOES Bandits' Guide: Day Trading in the 21st Century, was self-published, and Secrets of the SOES Bandit, put out by McGraw-Hill.
When prosecutors and regulators concluded their investigation of Nasdaq in 1996, they found that major dealers had rigged prices for years. One result was new rules for the way investors' orders to buy and sell Nasdaq stocks were handled, a rule change that encouraged entrepreneurs to set up electronic trading systems for Nasdaq stocks. This change ushered in the day-trading phenomenon, in which retirees, recent college graduates and others sit before computer screens in brokerage offices buying and selling thousands of shares, hoping to capitalize on the small price movements of stocks during the day.
... Commissions were up only 8% that year, compared with a 44% rise in 1997. And the average commission per transaction had fallen from $24.32 to $23.52.
Even more startling, the firm registered a $392,558 loss in its own trading account. The loss may indicate how hard it is even for a professional to make money in day trading.
Mr. Houtkin remains day trading's most vocal cheerleader. "I think I'm making a contribution to the financial markets that's worth more than making another million dollars," he said....
[Day traders could lose their comonas either way ... if the market flies up and they have on shorts or if it slides and they are long. But since they are only in for a few minuts ... the short side could creat a bigger profit ... stock markets drop much faster than they climb. DTN]
Friday 25 June 1999 Thin trading opens door to manipulators ....The most worrisome of these is that they will be
stung by wild price swings and big spreads between bid and ask prices because
there will be far fewer investors around buying and selling stocks.
This lack of liquidity also opens the door to manipulation of stocks by sharp traders
or through false or misleading information posted in Internet chat rooms or on
bulletin boards.
Friday 25 June 1999 Arthur Levitt, SEC's tiger, takes on after-hours trading DON MACDONALD ..Many expected Arthur Levitt to be more of a pussy cat than a tiger when he was
appointed chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993.
At first glance, Levitt's resume didn't suggest he would be particularly tough in the
job of No. 1 securities cop, charged with protecting investors from fraud, abuse
and unfairness in the largest market in the world. Instead, he looked to be the
consummate Wall St. insider, coming to the SEC from a job as chief executive of
the American Stock Exchange and before that as president of big brokerage firm.
But doubters should have dug a little deeper into Levitt's background. They would
have found that in former lives he was a reporter and an advertising man. As it's
turned out, he's brought to the SEC the aggressiveness of an investigative
journalist and the public relations savvy of a Madison Ave. . executive.
Friday 7 May 1999
Derivatives role for ME okayed But Quebec panel's minority report says an autonomous Exchange is
better for economy PAUL DELEAN
Friday, May 14, 1999 The changing face of trading
The SEC's responsibility to ensure a
fraud-free trading environment is being
severely challenged by a structural market
quake of new technology, online and day
trading Diana B. Henriques
The New York Times
Thursday 13 May 1999 Backlash grows to ME's new role A closed-door meeting of Montreal-based investment firms hears grumbling about planned shakeup of securities markets that will strip
Montreal of stock trading. DON MACDONALD... Jean-Louis Tasse, president of Tasse & Associes Ltee, Montreal's largest independent brokerage firm. Tasse invited the executives to the meeting at the request of Dominik Dlouhy and Robert Demers, heads of small Montreal brokerages and critics of the proposed reorganization of Canada's financial markets.(saved Dlouhy.htm)
Friday 9 April 1999
Internet hoax tricks day traders Faked news report highlights perils of the simple
but speedy World Wide Web EILEEN GLANTON
Wall St. has always trafficked in rumours that sometimes turn
out to be all wrong. But as an online hoax demonstrated this
week, the lightning speed of the Internet can give a falsehood a
big head start on the truth. Please see our Computer Virus page and check if it is a Hoax!
New market access creating gamblers who risk savings
Ian Karleff
National Post
After losing $40,000 (US) in life savings, a 27-year-old man contemplates suicide rather than tell his wife he is addicted to trading stocks online. A 32-year-old police officer pushes his family into bankruptcy after trading away retirement savings, and making things worse by desperately chasing his losses.
The proliferation of online stock trading is turning some unsuspecting investors into penniless punters, gambling addiction counselors say.
Edward Looney, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, says the two money-losing young men are among a handful of cases that have come through his office in the past month.
After recently expressing his concerns about stock market addicts on four U.S. business shows, the council's Web site, www.800gambler.org, received thousands of hits.
"The market is the biggest casino in the world," said Mr. Looney. He's concerned about the growing gang of day traders -- working at home or out of firms -- as well as the 7.5 million Americans with online trading access. Although he says 85% of these people are disciplined, 15% will at some point go over the line, and 5% will be, or already are, gambling addicts.
"Now we have an up market, so everyone is seemingly making money. When the corrections come, that's when the problems come," says Mr. Looney.
Unlike a casino, which can be accompanied by society's seedier elements, the stock market is viewed by most as a respectable institution.
Pat Davies, a problem gambling specialist at Bellwood Total Health Centre in Toronto, says troubled traders can convince themselves they're investing, not gambling.
Although Bellwood has yet to treat an online trading addiction, Ms. Davies points to U.S. colleagues who have noticed that as online trading turns mainstream, the number of people addicted to trading increases.
Online trading is rapidly gaining acceptance in Canada, where E*Trade Canada, Charles Schwab Canada, and most of the big banks offer trading over the Internet.
Ms. Davies dismisses the notion that only people with addictive personalities can become hooked. She's worried about novice investors becoming obsessed with finding the latest market news, using their limited knowledge to buy stocks, losing and then chasing their losses, only to gamble away life savings.
Buying mutual funds or stocks for the long term is not considered gambling, and won't lead to addiction for most people, says Ms. Davies. The problems start when stock buying becomes an obsession with winning and losing, and begins to affect a person's day-to-day functioning.
U.S. online brokerages are not held to the same strict ''know-your-client'' rules as they are in Canada. Here, investors must consciously spell out their investment aims, and a brokerage will stop highly speculative trades from being executed in an account with a low risk profile.
The country's discount brokerages are now lobbying securities regulators to relax the ''know- your-client'' rules, saying the current obligation adds to the price and timeliness of each stock trade.
According to the Canadian Foundation for Compulsive Gambling, the financial services industry is becoming concerned with its level of liability when it comes to providing a medium for compulsive gamblers to vent their addiction.
"We don't think that the provider of online trading would be the creator of the problem, but since they are providing what is clearly gambling they have to be aware that their product has certain side effects," says Morri Behrmann, a foundation director.
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Online Investing
Should you consider investing online? C-Net takes a look at the pros and cons of doing your trading on the Internet.
Online investing evaluated
Yahoo answers the question of whether or not it's a good idea to put your marbles behind online trading.
So you want to open a U.S. broker account and trade on the Internet
Saturday, March 20, 1999
ROB CARRICK
A weak dollar has just about killed the appeal of cross-border shopping, except if you do a lot of stock trading over the Internet. The spreads between Canadian and U.S. on-line trading commissions are so big in many cases that they look good even after factoring in the onerous exchange rate.
Minimum Canadian on-line commissions are commonly in the $27 to $29 range. In the United States, it's not hard to find $9.99 (U.S.) trades, which translates into roughly $15 (Canadian). This differential is huge if you're even a sporadically active investor, and it's all the more attractive when you factor in the faster order execution at U.S. brokers.
There's nothing to stop Canadians from opening U.S. brokerage accounts save the unwillingness of these brokers to accept the business.
But that doesn't mean the process is entirely above board. Technically, a broker is not supposed to accept clients in a province unless it's registered to do business there. A quick glance at the Ontario Securities Commission's list of registered dealers didn't turn up any of the cheap U.S. Internet brokers.
The OSC is just now getting around to the question of how to enforce this rule. As a first step, commission staff are researching which U.S. states have regulations preventing brokerages registered there from trading securities on behalf of foreign clients.
If Canadian provincial regulators could persuade U.S. state regulators to get tough on this matter, it might be much harder in the future to find a stateside broker who will accept your business. For now, though, there are plenty of U.S. options for Canadians.
An ideal place to start the search for a U.S. broker is the Directions site on the World Wide Web. It contains a listing of 68 U.S. discount brokers and notes which firms will deal with Canadians. Toll-free phone numbers and links to the Web sites of the listed brokers are also included.
Norman Rothery, who runs the Directions site, said some of the brokers who won't deal with Canadians indicated it was because they were not licenced to do business in this country.
It seems that prohibitions on dealing with Canadians aren't sacrosanct, however. Some of the brokers who are down in the Directions list as not accepting such business said they would do so when contacted late this week.
To open an account with a U.S. firm, you'll need to fill out a W-8 Internal Revenue Service form, which is a certificate of foreign status. Some U.S. firms said it's also necessary to complete a 1001 form, which pertains to withholding tax on income-producing investments. Copies of both forms can be downloaded on Suretrade Inc.'s Web site, providing you have Adobe Acrobat software.
The biggest challenge in opening a U.S. account has to be picking a broker. A good place to start is the March 15 issue of Barron's, which contains the financial weekly's annual ranking of on-line brokers.
If you're looking to a U.S. broker primarily to save money, be aware that Barron's ranking of 21 brokers emphasizes trade execution, reliability and range of services more than low commissions.
That explains why three of the four top-ranked brokers, DLJdirect, Discover Brokerage Direct and National Discount Brokers, all have minimum commissions no lower than $19.75 (U.S.). The fourth, Web Street Securities has an interesting proposition -- a $14.95 base commission and free on-line Nasdaq trades of 1,000 or more shares priced over $2.
The best combination of low prices and solid reliability on the Barron's list is Datek Online, which has a minimum $9.99 commission.
Definitely don't pick a U.S. broker without visiting a Web site called Online Investing Services. Twice a month, this site reviews 80 different companies according to cost and overall service. It also has a summary of rankings by business magazines, including Barron's, as well as links to the on-line broker bulletin boards of The Motley Fool and Silicon Investor.
The ratings on Online Investment Services are divided into three categories -- deep, mid- and high-cost discounters. The top five stocks among deep discounters go to Brown & Co., Datek, Trading Direct, Muriel Siebert and ForbesNet.
Online Investment Services also has a special section evaluating brokers for their service to day traders, and it looks at the best brokers for novice and more experienced investors as well.
The OSC points out that in using a U.S. broker a Canadian investor is giving up certain protections. U.S. firms aren't members of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund, which covers client money lost in the collapse of a broker. As well, there's no enforcement of the know-your-client rule, which requires trades to be checked against a client's investing objectives.
Of course, the absence of the so-called KYC rule is one of the reasons why U.S. brokers can deliver faster, cheaper service.
RATING THE ON-LINE BROKERSBarron's tested 21 brokers through their "Net connections." They ranked them in the following categories: Trade execution, ease of use, reliability range, amenities, commissions, weighted total and stars, but gave extra weight to trade execution, reliability and range of services.
DLJDirect ****
Discover ****
National Discount Brokers ****
Web Street Securities ****
Datek ***½
E'Trade ***½
A.B. Watley "Ultimate" ***½
SureTrade ***½
Charles Schwab ***
Muriel Siebert ***
Waterhouse Securities ***
Quick & Reilly ***
Wall Street Electronica ***
Brown & Co ***
Fidelity ***
AB Watley "Trader" **½
Jack White **
Wall Street Access **
Mr. Stock **
Accutrade **
Net Investor **
Ameritrade ** Source: Barron's
 9 Feb sample chart
National Post
Another more usefull ranking with links
WEB SITES Here are the addresses of the Web sites mentioned in this column:
>http://www.ndir.com (Directions)
>http://www.suretrade.com
>http://www.sonic.net/donaldj (Online
Investment)
Comments and suggestions are welcomed at
rcarrick@globeandmail.ca
#888 China Fr. David Oliver, Kathryn Quilico, Uha Kay ,Dr. Paul Saba, Lina Uberti, Peter Ferst ..day trading Me Marie Cormier Dr. Antal Deutsch Sam Totah & Pierre Arbour ..Québec Budget John Buchanan Frank Kruzich
Thursday 8 April 1999
ME, TSE moving on plan Derivatives in Montreal by July, traders told BERTRAND MAROTTE
The Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges are moving
swiftly to implement parts of a controversial plan to
realign Canada's capital markets despite the fact that
governments, regulators and member firms have not yet
given their approval.
Toronto Stock Exchange officials told derivatives
traders and support staff yesterday morning that trading
activities will be shut down and moved to the Montreal
Exchange by the end of June or beginning of July, said a
Toronto stock-options trader who did not want to be
named.
"The TSE is giving the ME derivatives no matter what,"
he said.
Friday 9 April 1999
Internet hoax tricks day traders Faked news report highlights perils of the
simple but speedy World Wide Web (saved)
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