| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 24, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| COVER STORY
Gotta Do the Legwork MICHAEL TERRY: Day Trader Michael Terry spends his afternoons sprinting around a Newport Beach (Calif.) track in hopes of making Antigua's Olympic track team in 2000, as he did in 1996. Four years ago, while on scholarship at the University of California at Los Angeles, he underwrote his Olympic dreams with odd jobs. But this time, Terry, a citizen of the U.S. and Antigua, is paying the bills by day-trading online. The 25-year-old runner got hooked on online investing two years ago, when a friend had a hot streak. In February, Terry swapped a full-time financial consulting job for part-time work and set mornings aside for trading. Since then, his day-trading portfolio is up 50%, to $30,000, thanks largely to Internet-related stocks, such as E*Trade Group EGRP and Knight/Trimark Group. Still, some days are rough: ''Today I covered my expenses for four months,'' he says. ''But yesterday I got killed.'' Terry starts his trading day by logging on to E*Trade at 5:30 a.m. to check the market. He then might switch over to Hoover's Online, a fee-based site, to research corporate financial statements and historical market data. At EarningsWhispers.com, he catches rumors about corporate profits. Then it's time to put his money to work. Although E*Trade is Terry's source for real-time quotes and market indicators, he frequently trades through Ameritrade AMTD. Its $8 commission for listed stocks beats E*Trade's $14.95 fee. Terry also likes to follow Net message boards, such as those that focus on single stocks at Yahoo! Finance YHOO. ''I wouldn't take people's picks,'' he says. But Terry often finds fodder for further research. Plus, he adds, ''they're always entertaining.'' By Anne Tergesen _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 Your Guide to Online Investing COVER IMAGE: Our Guide to Online Investing CHART: The Biggest Online Brokers TABLE: Broker Scoreboards TABLE: Online Brokers That Meet Your Needs Gotta Do the Legwork ``A Diversity of Thought'' Testing the Waters Commentary: Why Old-Line Firms Need New Online Tricks TABLE: Full-Service Dream The Right Tools for the Right Trades Street.Cop TABLE: Smart Investing on the Web TABLE: Web Resources for Online Investors Rocket Science Made Simple TABLE: Quant for a Day How to Seal a Great Bond Deal TABLE: Where to Buy...And Get Info What to Read: The Good, the Bad, and the Terrible TABLE: Wired-Up Investing Books Investor Beware of Web Talk TABLE: Separating Fact from Fiction TABLE: Cross Checkers Smells Fishy? Tell the SEC This EDGAR Is a Real Know-It-All TABLE: Searching the SEC Commentary: Analyst Calls: Let Investors Listen TABLE: Calling All Netizens The Barker Portfolio: A Battle Plan for Accidental Investors Inside Wall Street: Wells Fargo Online CHART: The Rise Trails Other Banks Inside Wall Street: Bidding for 3COM? CHART: Prior Takeovers Fizzled Out Inside Wall Street: A TV-To-Net Linkup CHART: ACTV's Rise Is Due to E-Commerce INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
