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Found this:
Gwenn
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Trouble for Day-Trading Firms
A Senate subcommittee panel held hearings yesterday about the business
of day trading. Unfortunately, the press allowed a dramatic but not
wholly relevant story to distract it from the real issues. Obviously,
there are huge problems with the day-trading industry. As most
reporters noted, a study by securities regulators in the state of
Washington found that 77 percent of day traders lose money. The AP
reported that Senate investigators "estimate that day traders need to
make more than $111,000 a year in their trading to turn a profit."
Furthermore, many reported, illegal margin loans can plunge customers
further into debt. Yesterday, wrote the AP, the National Association
of Securities Dealers announced that it had disciplined eight
day-trading firms for misleading advertising, misusing customer funds
and making improper loans.
But much of that serious work was obscured by the story of Scott Webb,
who, the AP reported, was shot and killed by fellow day trader Mark O.
Barton, to whom he owed $30,000. According the Washington Post, Webb's
mother, who spoke to the congressional panel, is now suing the
day-trading firm Momentum for wrongful death. While Webb's death was
certainly horrific, none of the stories that spotlighted it explained
exactly how such a murder could be blamed on the industry rather than
on a single deranged individual. Perhaps day trading drove him mad?
The media didn't exactly say. Instead, stories simply inserted
paragraphs about the crime along with news of the other misdeeds of
day-trading firms. While it's hard to muster up sympathy for the
firms, the media might have asked harder questions about Momentum's
culpability. After all, day trading had nothing to do with this
country's many other shooting sprees. Who is to blame for those? -
Michelle Goldberg
Panel Hears Day-Trading Dangers (AP)
http://www.mercurynews.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/248954l.htm
Senate Panel Criticizes Day-Trading Firms
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/current/daytrade.htx?source=htx/http2_mw
Day Trading: A Study in Temptation
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/feed/a26944-2000feb24.htm
U.S. Senate Panel Takes Aim at Day-Trading Firms (Reuters)
http://www.mercurynews.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/248559l.htm
Senators Lambaste Day Traders, Industry
http://www.usatoday.com/money/mds5.htm
Many Day-Trading Firms Violating Law, Study Says
http://www.latimes.com/business/20000224/t000017745.html
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