Aug. 16, 2022
August 16, 2022
Hello there,
On behalf of all retail investors - I strongly recommend the commission to please advance these regulations as they are written.
The proposed transaction-by-transaction reporting is critical because it eliminates the ability to \"hide within the aggregate\" transparency means transparency and aggregates are not transparent.
The 15-minute reporting requirement is a fantastic idea that will help to prevent fraud as well as prevent hiding in loopholes. The added cost of these requirements would far outweigh the potential costs of another catastrophic market collapse a la 2008 by minimizing risk of systemic abuse.
American companies need a greater ability to defend themselves against predators, and \"short selling in the dark\" harms true competition and price discovery, despite what Citadel and Virtu may say. The idea that a small number of short-selling funds \"know best\" and can hammer unsuspecting companies in the dark is shameful and discourages not only retail investors but belief in the system as a whole.
The SEC chairman has constantly preached about attempting to level the playing field for retail investors. If that is truly the case, retail investors would directly benefit from the increased transparency proposed here. Retail investors would have a much better idea of the risks of our decisions and transactions if we can see who is targeting which companies. If funds are continued to be allowed to short in the dark, that puts retail at an immense risk that they are unable to factor into our decision making when purchasing securities.
Allowing the public to participate in serving as first-line watchdogs in monitoring short selling data for securities fraud strengthens the SEC and better enables it to fulfill its mandate, all at no additional cost.
Thank you for any thought and consideration placed while reading these comments and have a blessed week