GLITCHES DOG ETRADE FOR SECOND STRAIGHT DAY.

Byline: Eileen Glanton Associated Press

Software troubles plagued online brokerage ETrade for a second straight day Thursday, enraging investors who were unable to buy or sell stocks.

While most online brokerages experience snarls during especially busy trading days, ETrade's trouble had nothing to do with system capacity or heavy volume, a spokeswoman said.

New software installed Tuesday night malfunctioned Wednesday morning, knocking out the trading function for 75 minutes. About 5 percent of ETrade's customers were unable to trade electronically throughout the afternoon.

The system functioned normally for the first half-hour of trading Thursday before crashing again about 7 a.m. PST. Some service was restored within an hour, and the system was entirely fixed within two hours, said Lisa Nash, vice president for customer management at the Palo Alto brokerage.

ETrade brokers were able to fill telephone orders, but many callers experienced lengthy delays, even as ETrade put more staff members onto telephone detail.

ETrade also set up a special e-mail address to handle customer complaints. Nash said the company had received more than 1,500 messages as of Thursday afternoon.

Many angry investors turned to Internet chat rooms to disparage ETrade. Dubbing the brokerage EtrytoTrade or ETrash, many threatened to move their accounts.

Vincent Crisci, an ETrade customer who trades over the Internet several times a week, said he is frustrated enough to look into other services.

``I think there is both a legal and implied trust or contract to provide uninterrupted services during market hours,'' he said. Crisci said he lost money Wednesday when the system outage prevented him from canceling an order to buy stock.

Investors punished ETrade's stock for the second straight day, sending its shares down $1.75, or 3 percent, to $53.50 on the Nasdaq market.