Conclusions

On-line trading continues to be an important segment of the securities trading market. The industry reports investing greater resources toward improving performance of their systems, and regulators have made substantial progress in ensuring that investors receive better information in key investor protection areas. However, investors trading on-line continue to file a substantial number of complaints that indicate concern about failures and delays in processing orders, and according to OCIE, a lack of knowledge about trading and investing. OCIE’s findings in its January 2001 report confirmed those we reported 1 year ago and provide further support for our conclusion that providing complete information on the Web sites of on-line broker-dealers would provide greater opportunities for investors to make more informed investment decisions.
What GAO Found

On-line trading continues to be an important part of the securities trading market. The industry reports investing greater resources to improve the performance of their systems, and regulators have made substantial progress in ensuring that investors receive better information in key investor protection areas. However, investors trading on-line continue to file many complaints about failures and delays in processing orders. GAO believes that providing complete information on the websites of on-line broker-dealers would allow investors to make more informed investment decisions.