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CSFBdirect Beats Online Peers in Gomez Brokerage Performance Index
Gomez, Inc. introduced a new benchmark measuring the speed and reliability of brokerage Web sites on Aug. 1st and also released the results of how long it takes for retail investors to complete a trade on 12 leading brokerage Web sites that comprise the index.
CSFBdirect delivered the fastest performance with trades completed in 4.5 seconds for the period of July 23 through 27, according to the new Gomez Performance Index. Brown & Co. was singled out for performing "most consistently with a standard deviation of less than two seconds during the period measured," according to Gomez, an Internet quality measurement firm based in Waltham, Mass. Ameritrade, Charles Schwab and Quick & Reilly also delivered trade completion times that were ahead of the 9.7-second benchmark for the measured period. Brokerage Web sites which took longer than the benchmark to complete a trade were Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, E*Trade, Fidelity Investments, Datek, Merrill Lynch and TD Waterhouse, with American Express turning in the poorest performance--14.8 seconds.
As defined by Gomez, the average daily time represents the aggregate download in seconds for the sequence of URLs involved with executing a stock trade on each brokerage site.
Tests are conducted by running simulated transactions every 15 minutes, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. from eight separate Gomez co-location facilities across the country.
Brokerage firms can sign up for a free, two-week subscription to the Daily Performance Report, by going to the Gomez Performance Network Web site https:/gpn.Gomez.com/public/bmkindex.asp and receive a report on how their site performed over the previous 24 hours. Gomez is applying the metric to other vertical markets including airlines, banks, real estate brokers and e-commerce firms. In launching the service, Gomez joins at least three other companies that measure Internet site performance, including Keystone, Jupiter Media Metrix and Neilson. Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio