Mar. 19, 2025
Ms. Countryman, RegSHO has proven ineffective at stopping persistent Fails to Delivery as is obvious by the movement of FTDs from equities to ETFs since 2004. Any casual observer can look at what is going on with XRT, IWM, and IWB and see that the rules are being deliberately abused by market participants so that they can suppress the price of individual stocks using strategic delays in settlement. I would ask that our markets be restored, but have they ever been honest? If the average investor ever figured out that most of the companies in the US are being naked short sold using FTDs (and other mechanics like naked short hedging of swaps and other derivatives) to dilute their investments, there would be a revolution overnight. FTDs need to cease to exist completely. This includes naked short selling by market makers and other participants. If you would like to have a conversation about this issue, I would be happy to give you very strong evidence of how market participants are flagrantly abusing FTDs of ETFs to delay settlement and manipulate prices on individual equities. To such a degree that a casual investor like myself can anticipate their settlement moves well in advance. Thank you, Richard Newton