Oct. 08, 2022
October 8, 2022
I am an investor from Denmark. I trade stocks via the US capital markets and have been doing so for 5 years now.
Today I write to you to comment on the SEC's proposed rule S7-18-21 for Reporting of Securities Loans.
It has become increasingly concerning to see the blatant market manipulation that is occurring on a daily basis.
As I scroll down the comments I see several large institutions having submitted their own comments on this ruling. And as to my point earlier, they are of course suggesting it be withdrawn or redrafted to a version that favours their agenda more then the current version presented by the SEC.
In these last few years, when I check the financial news, Ive found myself more and more in disgust as every time I look, I keep seeing and finding example after example of cases where big financial institutions get fined minuscule million dollar sums for market manipulation that have netted them billions in revenue. The inability, or maybe rather unwillingness, to enforce the rules by the financial regulators is quickly turning in to an ever escalating avalanche of unfathomable greed and corruption.
This rule is highly beneficial for retail investors, and bad for large financial institutions, which is why they are of course against it so that they can keep that outrageously high profit margins, outrageously high.
I, as a retail investor, support the intraday 15 minute reporting requirement. It creates market transparency and creates a more fair market for retail investors, as it would give all investors a better understanding of any given position they might want to buy into.
Any cost that might be involved with this change is undoubtably justified when it helps with early detection of abusive shorting practices.
The new rule would also provide any victimised companies a greater ability to defend themselves against predatory short selling, as short selling in the dark harms true competition and price discovery.
I am a strong supporter of transaction by transaction reporting. It is clear that aggregated reporting is not transparent and provides far too much rope where fraud can be hidden in aggregates. Why should one individual or entity have to suffer a worse execution whilst another individual or entity benefits from a better execution, just because it is more convenient for certain institutions to report their short selling practices in the aggregate? It is wholly unfair and contrary to the requirement of best execution and so it should be a mandated requirement for transaction by transaction reporting.
In conclusion, I support the Short Sale Reporting rule in its current format and recommend that this should be enacted in it's current format to help all manner of investors better understand the risks involved with the investments they are making, before they are making them.
Kind Regard,
Aron Tastensen