BUSINESS Wednesday, April 19, 2000 — North Shore News - 17 | Making money from Protect data from atiack the bull and the bear TRE stock market is not a pretty place. It’s energy comes trom dreams of wealth. It is ruled by fear and greed. Last Friday's bloodletting Jeft many investors slack- jawed and anemic. Peof. A trillion bucks evaporated just like that. That's a lot of chicken burgers. On Friday the Nasdaq fell 355.49, or 9.7%, to 3321.29, its second-largest percent- age loss and biggest point drop to date. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 83.20, or 5.8%, to 1357.31, as 87 of its 88 industry groups took a dive. The Dow fost 617.78, or 5.7%, to 10,305.77. For the week, the Nasdag fost 25.3%, while the Dow dropped 7.2% and the S&P 500 10.5%. Since its March 10 record, the Nasdaq had lost 34.2% to Friday. The dot-com feeding frenzy has turned the Nasdaq into the king of al! beasts to watch. On Monday U.S. stocks rallied and the Nasdaq Composite Index posted its second- largest gain as bargain hunters picked through last week’s wreckage. The Nasdaq gained 6.6%. The beast showed a bounce, Lately I have been inside the heart of this beast. North Vancouver residents Matt Mills and Rod Streets of Swift Trade Securities have allowed me access to the rarefied world of day trading. Swift Trade is Vancouver's first day-trad- ing facility and trading school. Day trading is a risky, potentially lucrative pursuit. Uniike online investors who work through brokers, day traders buy and sell the same securities to Sotur FE PEJCES EVERYDAY! Shon Sears Bursisby.utles Store ond Jove big on sixplos. trdm our cotalague and, retail store’,.. plus special * buys, source and factoryitloge-outs and everyday qaod walues.-° JAN-STORE SEARS CATALOGUE LOCATION TO SERVE YOU! “Visit: our ‘surplus page at | | 1. wwwisearsica for:more hot deals “9850 AUSTIN. ROAD, .BUR over the course of a day. They beyin the day flac and they end the day flat. They are NOt investors. NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System) transac- tions are conducted through NASDAQ’s SOES (Small Order Execution System). Traders have “Level II” access and are able to follow in real time the momentum below best-bid and best-ask prices. Many investors watched portfolios reduce themselves to empty promises last week. Those who bought on margin were most vulnerable. There was cald comfort to be had in the count of millions shed by obscenely bloated dot-com billionaires. Yet last Friday was 2 good day for many of the traders at Swift Trade. They thrive on momentum, volatility and volume. The trend is their friend, up or down. Traders can use a technique called “short selling.” If traders assesses that a stock price will drop, they borrow the stock at (for example) $100 and sell. They receive $100 per share in their account. [f the call is on the money and the stock price drops, they buy back the stock, but pay only (hor exam- ple) $80 per share. The net effect is that $20 per share remains in the account. If the judgement was faulty, computer execution systems allow traders to get out of a trade quickly. The key is discipline. There is profit to be squeezed from a falling market. According to Mills, Swift Trade’s top trader made $7,700 US (gross of commissions) on Friday alone. ces in effect, Thutsday, April hr Soturdey, Apeil, 22nd,:2000 or whi . YOUR business should have the resources in place to secure com- puter data. H not, there are measures you can take to guard your computer system against would-be attackers, accord- ing to Valerie MacLean, Better Business = Bureau spokesperson. The = Better — Business Bureau offers these basic security tips: B Implement a password protection = progrant for authorizing network log-ins. Users should avoid using simple passwords. 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Firewalls = should — be installed at every point where the computer system comes in contact with other net- works including — the Internet, a separate local area network at a customer's site, ora telephone company switch, ® Consider purchasing encryption software. Even if an intruder man- ages to break through a fire- wall, the data on a network can be made safe if it is encrypted, You can also buy stand- alone encryption packages to work with individual applica- tions, in addition to good encryption software in the public domain. Almost all _firewaiis, encryption programs, and password schemes include an auditing function — that records activities on the net- work. Companies should regu- larly check logging data and audit trails to fook for unusu- al or suspicious activity. Develop and enforce a company-wide computer and physical security policy. Make sure your online provider has filters to help keep out intruders. ensure that ali emplovees and management are briefed regularly on security threats, policies, corcective measures and incident reporting proce- dures. The Better Business Bureau is a non-profit pre- ventative reporting agency. The BBB urges business operators and individuals to protect themselves before investing, investigate; before giving, get the facts; before signing, read it all and keep a copy. When in doubt, find out. Remember — rackets can- not survive without public support. Cen artists live on your nioney and will flourish only as long as you continue to support them. “speaker AM/FM stereo cassette me ® power steering tilt steering ] highway: 8.5 L/100 fan (33 mpz) i Mortgage | i a =n a7 ao Sp? * Certain conditions apply. Applicable on a closed term of five (5) years. Otfer valid on qualified mortgage loans requested as of April tst and disbursed before December 31, 2000. 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