Most logged on to track their investments and look for information. Even those who do trade online do so with a few caveats. The top complaint to the SEC filed by individual investors for 1999 was that their online trades were either delayed or not even made. That complaint was number two for both online and offline investors overall. These must be the same folks who saw no need to get an ATM card because there were bank tellers.
Men make up the bulk of online investors today.
Fifty-seven percent of online traders are less than 45 years old and 30 percent are under 35. Just 14 percent are 55 or older. Brokerage firms would do well to enlist more women in online trading, as traders. And a recent study by Brad M. Barber and Terrance Odean at the University of California at Davis reports that women who trade online attain better returns than men. They trade less often.