Broker Poker

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NASD has also started posting arbitration awards online, armchair reading likely to delight and discourage in equal measure. Most lawyers won't even start sniffing if you've lost less than $50,000, which means your time may be better spent finding a new broker to rebalance your portfolio. The SEC urges investors to check a broker's history before opening an account. But its Central Registration Depository won't mention any complaints that were erased as part of settlement agreements, which took care of 41% of last year's arbitration claims. NASD has been dragging its feet in drafting a proposal to prevent expungement in most cases. "Brokers shouldn't be able to buy a clean record," says Charles Austin Jr. of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association. If brokers remain branded by complaints of churning and misrepresentation, fewer investors--or at least the ones who do their homework--may get burned next time.