The market was plunging, and over the past month he had been forced to cover mounting losses on his margin trades, the deals he had made with borrowed money. These margin calls, combined with the steep sell-off, had erased roughly $1 million, or close to 80%, of his portfolio's value. "The feeling in my heart was, `Here it was my watch, and I had taken a tremendous hit'," Gleitman recalls. He was chastened by the thought But not enough to call it quits.

Despite his losses, the 46-year-old podiatrist was back to trading within a matter of days. With his earnings from his medical practice shriveling, Gleitman depends on his trading income to pay the bills - household expenses, taxes and school tuitions, for example. He has gradually reduced the hours he sets aside to see patients so he can spend part of most mornings trading. His nights? They are spent researching stocks and cruising online chat rooms for investing tips.

Just three months after margin debt fueled his portfolio's collapse, Gleitman is once again borrowing heavily to boost his returns on the 15 or so stocks he trades. So far, it has paid off: his portfolio is back to about half its peak value of around $1.3 million, after subtracting debt owed to his broker. But, "I am pretty much pushing it to the limit," he concedes.

For many Americans, online trading has gone from a novelty to a fixation in the space of just a few years. In homes and offices everywhere, Its helped turn the personal computer into a round-the-clock casino, letting people who wouldn't otherwise think of themselves as gamblers plunge into endless hours of high-risk speculation. Fast Internet connections, low-cost brokerage services and the long bull market have all inspired more investors to become heavy traders - and for some of them, even when trouble ensues, it is hard to stop.

Gleitman received about five margin calls in less than two months when the market soured this past spring. One was for more than $200,000.

After the market's collapse, he cut back on his borrowing. Now, it has edged back up again. Gleitman bought his first stock while still in high school, with $500 saved from a summer job. Later, he funneled larger sums into low-priced penny stocks talked up by brokers he had never met. Those investments almost never turned a profit. Eventually he decided he might do better on his own. He opened a brokerage account at Citibank in early 1997.

A few months later, he switched to Schwab because it offered lower commissions. Instead of searching for hot, young companies that could be the next Microsoft or Intel, Gleitman started buying well-known stocks, such as Dell Computer Corp.

That year, Gleitman for the first time made a net profit on his investments. The initial $200,000 he funneled into his online account over the course of 1997 had doubled by year end. By mid-1998, it had tripled. Then it grew more.

Years before, Gleitman, who dreamed of renovating his split-level home, had built a scale model of his $300,000 fantasy. As his portfolio grew, that dream seemed within his grasp. By early this past spring, the value of his portfolio had swelled to about $1.3 million. He thought about giving up medicine entirely.

Then, disaster. Gleitman was flying to West Palm Beach, Fla, for a family vacation on Friday, April 14, when the Nasdaq market plunged a record 355.49 points, or 9.7 per cent. His portfolio shrank more than $100,000 in a single day.

The following Monday, he studied the market, looking for some sort of turnaround. As the week progressed, he began trying to gain more leverage by buying options. Short on cash, he spent $5,500 on options giving him the right to buy the beaten-down shares of Myriad Genetics Inc. Two months later, he closed out the position with nearly a $40,000 gain.

-- (The Wall Street Journal)