March 22, 2022
I would like to start off by saying thank you to whomever is reading this comment. If you're reading this then that means you're actually invested in hearing what everyday retail investors have to say, and by default are giving a voice to those who may not normally have room to speak given the growing inequality within the markets.
I am a retail investor who not even a year ago didnt understand what a short sale was, much less the mechanics of how to execute a short in the first place. I had little to no interest in investing outside of using Robinhood to see what $200 of money I was willing to lose, could get me. Flash forward to now and after months upon months of reading news articles, researching the terminology associated with the stock market, and brushing up on the research my fellow retail investors have done, I now have a better picture of whats going on within the markets, Wall Street, and our government when it comes to securities and the transparency, or lack thereof that is afforded to major financial institutions some of which had a major role in the 2008 financial crisis. The fact that rampant short selling, coupled with the overriding of actual shareholders votes, and private equity takeovers, are still technically legal does not give me confidence that our free market system is actually as advertised. Without the transparency of where a broker's shares are actually going in a short sale, the room for potential corruption and fraud is huge. I think that major financial institutions should be held accountable, and be required by law to report their short positions in order to maintain transparency and confidence in the markets. While I think short selling itself is not harmful to a free and fair market, I think that there should be accountability for those institutions that wish to utilize short selling in their investment strategies, and that guardrails should be put in place to make sure it is done in a way that doesn't hurt the average citizen. I feel that the SEC is essentially toothless in its current state, however I believe that it should implement these rule changes and advocate for retail investors now, and work towards implementation later. I applaud anyone that strives for transparency, and accountability in the markets, and hope that true enforcement of these rules will come into effect down the line when the SEC gets the resources it needs to enforce the rules it churns out, and hold institutional investors accountable for their actions.
Thank you for reading my comment. This is the first time Ive ever thought to inform a government institution what I think on a given subject.