March 14, 2022
I am a young investor from germany. I'm a student and invest the little money I have mainly in the US stock market in an attempt to grow my investments for retirement. I've started learning mor deeply about the stock market a year ago during the events surrounding the stock of GameStop Corporation and I continued to learn more every day since. I'm shocked about the state of the US stock market and the practices allowed in it. Payment for orderflow, dark pools, in reality unregulated short selling and naked shorting of companies to sometimes over 100% of the companies outstanding shares are only a few issues I'm worried to see in a structure backing the global financial markets and deciding over lives every day. We all know what happened in 2008 during the financial crisis, and the effects it had on people in the US as well as all around the globe. I believe it is your responsibilty as the overseeing institution to put an end to predatory short selling and platand market manipulation through dark pools. Make the markets fair for every entity participating in it. Hand out fines that actually hurt companies breaking the rules so they cant be seen as \"a cost of doing business\" by them. I ask you as the SEC to do your job and regulate the system that is basically the only system left to create some kind of wealth in a world where savings accounts cost you money. I ask you to make the markets more transparent so retail investors have a fair chance in a world dominated by big institutions. I believe it is in your interest as well as in the interest of all people living in this globalist world, where a few greedy individuals are capable of destroying lives and companies.
I plead for you to take my, as well as all the other comments on your rules by retail investors very seriously. If there are no serious changes happening to the US market as a whole people and companies will find different ways to invest and raise capital. We see these potential changes in the blockchain world. Until then I will no longer invest any future money in the US markets and stick to better regulated, fairer European markets. We live in a capitalist world of competition, and if the US market can't hold up to it's promises capital will flow in other markets.
A very concerned retail investor.