January 24, 2022
To Whom It May Concern:
I would first like to thank you for bringing this proposed regulation to the table.
I am a retail trader that left the market after 2009, when I seen more of my retirement wiped away. In 2021, I seen an opportunity to start trading again. Over the last year I have been distressed after reading about some of the manipulation in the market. Actions such as short interest discrepancies and glitches, FTD's never being covered, using the same borrowed shares over and over again to short our American stocks, fake sell walls, stock floats being traded over 20X in a single year (even though people are not selling, and turnover is under 5%), high frequency ping ponging, and short interest numbers that clearly are under reported. I have learned so much about options, puts, how dark pools work and how they are abused, and reading charts, as well as the possible (but obvious use) of phantom shares.
Retail has an unfair advantage, market makers and hedge funds see our trades, hire people to search out platforms, forums, and social media to see what retail is doing, then bets against them. Media and News reporters are reporting proven to be false news stories to influence us (I was surprised to find out most financial news sources and partially owned by hedge funds), our politicians know when to buy and sell ahead of retail. How can we trust our government?
All of these actions hurt our middle and lower class people that want to be able to grow their wealth supporting their favorite companies. Platforms do not allow us to sell or buy prior to certain times, but yet businesses can start at 4am, and can bring down the price before we can even make a trade.
All we are looking for is a fair and transparent market that evens out the playing field. We do not need or want false news or reports. Retailers will never be able to access the data that multi million dollar trading programs can, but reporting of holdings, short positions, when they buy and sell in dark pools, who is lending them shares, and if retail shares protected from being lent out, even though cash accounts should not be by default? How can hedge funds be lent phantom shares to short? Why are there so many phantom shares in existence? Why are they not required to cover FTDs (which are accounted for in the charts because the stock has not been found)? How can they keep using the same shares over and over to short a company, and why is the SI% never moving if they have not closed out the short position? It is very hard to claim we have a fair market when retail money is just profits for brokers, banks, politicians, and hedge funds because they have access to info the rest of us do not have. How are institutions able to buy shares that do not exist?
We have so many questions about market transparency and only have the SEC and Finra to uphold the rules and regulations.
Many of us home that this regulation passes so that we can have some transparency in the markets. We hope new regulations pass, and then, and ONLY then, may we have a free and fair market.