February 7, 2022
The lack of transparency, audit and fundamental oversight of the derivative markets and short selling has made the US Stock Market essentially fraudulent.
There is no opportunity for pension funds, retirement funds and retail investors for true price discovery as the valuation of equities is manipulated by high frequency algorithms directed by hedge funds (who are also market makers). Under the guise of \"providing market liquidity\" these hedge funds front run market orders and manipulate the price through naked short practices.
What is equally worrisome is the inability of the SEC to deal with repeat offenders. Small fines for lack of disclosure, failure delivery of borrowed shares, or naked short selling do not dissuade, but rather contribute to a cost of doing business for these market makers.
The market needs to be more transparent, and market maker/hedge fund schemes of hiding short positions/failure to delivers in swaps needs to be stopped immediately for the market to regain its credibility.