Several months ago, I wrote about day trading and the thousands of investors who see it as the avenue to quick riches ("Easy money," Feb. 2). They use new technology to scamper through markets in ways that were impossible for ordinary citizens only a few years ago.
There are about 100 day-trading offices scattered across the U.S., with 3,000 to 10,000 people using them on a daily basis.
Day trading is risky business, a whisker away from pure speculation. They are looking for fast money and that means they want a market to move. At some companies, they average 500 trades a day, often focusing on Internet stocks, which are easily pushed by day traders and other eager profiteers. It's a volatile mix -- and a risky business -- as I pointed out in the previous column.