March 14, 2022
I am encouraged to see the proposed rule. In my experience there has been rampant abuse of short and distort tactics that put retail investors at a significant disadvantage due to their limited ability to identity and disseminate false accusations on a timely basis, often precipitating a fear response that is unfairly detrimental to their financial well-being.
I also encourage the SEC to consider incremental actions that will further restrict institutional investors ability use short term, high volume tactics to distort markets for financial gain. While it is difficult to assess the motive behind individual actions, patterns of behavior should considered in evaluating a firms intent to create unwarranted swings in stock prices over repeated actions.
Finally, I would encourage the SEC in coordination with the DOJ and other enforcement agencies to prioritize efforts in this area through the commitment of significant incremental resources to identify abusive behavior and the adoption of more aggressive penalties for firms and traders who profit from these activities including disgorgement of unfairly gain profits, banning guilty parties from regulated trading activity and jail sentences for those who commit, perpetrate and/or fail to properly monitor and regulate these activities within their area of responsibility.