One new spot shows an on-line trader watching a preview for a new movie starring Anna Nichole Smith.

If the on-line traders' favorite stocks start to fall from the sky, the people who trade on E.C.N.'s may not be able to get out.

About 130 Internet brokerage firms are competing for a universe of on-line traders that now numbers about 10 million.

For on-line traders who want a glimpse of the real thing (and can still afford it), there's Stock Market Place in Toronto.

Investors and some industry officials worry that a big market tumble could completely freeze out on-line traders.

But on-line traders may encounter special costs.

Gomez found that, like their older counterparts, nearly half of the younger on-line traders had long-term, or at least 10-year, investing strategies.

Come now, how many on-line traders make decisions based on checking the newspaper for yesterday's stock prices?

Now the very funds that invest in the most popular stocks of on-line traders may be losing some of their luster.

According to Mr. Steffens, 25 to 30 percent of retail stock trades are done electronically, and the median age of an on-line trader is about 36.