About 15 million U.S. households now have online brokerage accounts, up from 8.1 million in 1999. Jupiter Media Metrix projects that this number will increase by 4.6 million in 2002. Average Datek customer is trading 33 times a year, compared to 50 a year ago.
Some brokerages start penalizing investors who've stopped trading.
Flipping involves making a series of rapid trades in between the bid and ask quotes. The SEC charged that 10 floor brokers with taking unfair advantage of their positions on the trading floor by performing these actions. In it Deborah Lohse reports that the ranks of full-time storefront day traders have thinned by a third from a peak of 7,000 last year. Weak Nasdaq and higher minimum account requirements have contributed to the decline. Knight Trading confirms that payment for order flow is decreasing.