Forum Archive Index - December 2002

[Phaedrus <Phaedrus@techemail.com>]

Holden,
       I don't think Brown Co would meet your needs. They have quite a few 
customer requirements, including a US$15,000 minimum account deposit.
 I used Datek for many years - they have now merged with Ameritrade, and 
continue to give excellent service along with the best online facilities I have 
found anywhere. I suggest you open an account with them. It's easy, and all 
info is online at www.ameritrade.com. They charge $10.99/trade (market or 
limit) and have a $2000 minimum initial deposit. What you get and what you are 
charged depends a lot on your account size. For example, if your acoount drops 
under $2000, they charge you $15/quarter. If your account is over $100,000 you 
get free live Level II quotes etc. 
 All other things being equal, the higher the volume traded, the better TA 
works. So, it works better in Aus than NZ, and better in the US than Aus. I 
would advise you to start out testing your systems by paper trading before 
using real money. Have you considered trading ETFs? These are Exchange Traded 
Funds, and the best known examples are QQQ which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index 
and SPY which tracks the Dow. There are several advantages with these. (1)They 
have enormous volumes traded every day (2)Bid/Ask spreads are very low, 
typically one cent, so all Buy/Sell orders can be lodged at market without fear 
of excessive slippage. (3)ETFs are not subject to the "downtick rule", so can 
be shorted with ease anytime you like. (4)Because they are in effect a bundle 
of stocks, you will not get the violent price fluctuations sometimes 
experienced with single stocks. (5)It would be quite acceptable for your US 
account to comprise a single ETF trade, but putting all your US$ on a single 
stock would be foolish, in my opinion.
 I would regard the minimum practical US account size to be about NZ6000. This 
would equal about US3000, and give you enough money for a single QQQ trade. 
(100 at $26.00)
 Currently, the US market closes at 10am NZ time. In the winter it closes at 
8am NZ time. It is therefore easy to monitor the last hour or three without 
turning your life upside down. In any case, the market takes an hour or two to 
settle, and this period is best avoided, in my opinion. Don't even think of 
attempting day trading.

      Regards,
                Phaedrus.
 
 

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