Date:    02/01/2000  4:46 PM


Subject: Comment to File Number SR-NYSE-99-47 
SR-NYSE-99-47
     
Dear regulator,
     
It never ceases to amaze me why regulatory bodies feel it necessary to 
interfere with free-market forces. In this case you are proposing to 
increase margin requirements for daytraders from $2000 to $25000 and then 
increase a trader's buying power from 2:1 to 4:1. Of course, you are also 
going to define what a daytrader is so you can impose your new rules on 
him/her. In your efforts to "protect" the smaller trader, you are 
discriminating against him/her by essentially barring entry into the 
business of trading.
     
Did you ever stop to consider that the failure rate for new businesses is 
more than 80%? Why should it surprise you that daytrading should be any 
different? If someone can't make it as a trader so what? I don't see the 
regulators crying "foul" when a restaurant fails; or when a publicly traded 
company files Chapter 11. If you are so concerned about market volatility 
then why increase a trader's buying power to 4:1 from the current 2:1? There 
are people who are lousy traders no matter how much money they have. 
Increasing that trader's buying power isn't going to make him/her a better 
trader.
     
Why is it that you allow Market Makers (including specialists) to sell short 
on down-ticks and yet require the rest of us to adhere to the "uptick" rule?
     
Why aren't you complaining about the "financial professionals" employed at 
banks (or other lending institutions) who recommend their clients use their 
home equity to buy stocks on margin?
     
Overall, I feel you do a credible job of oversight within the industry. But 
please, don't penalize the little trader who wants to try his/her hand at 
trading.
     
Sincerely,
     
Rick Peters