Reality bites funny-money investors; four in 10 become customers after one version of simulated online trading.

Investment News, February, 2001 by Miller, Rick

If investors can make a bundle in the stock market playing with funny money, will they trade just as much using their own dough? Companies such as E*Trade Group Inc. in Menlo Park, Calif., and Ameritrade Holding Corp. in Omaha, Neb., will be among the first to find out. They're giving potential customers a pot full of funny money to test-drive a simulated version of their online trading sites.

And it's all done in the name of investor education--something the Securities and Exchange Commission has been pushing--although critics say it smacks of another slick marketing ploy. In some cases, online simulations nab four out of 10 users as new clients, says an industry executive. "There's a danger out there in the online world of leading...

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