February 18, 2022
I am a novice investor and have about 2 years under my belt. I have done what I can to educate myself and be up to date. Unfortunately, what I have learned paints a very unsettling picture for retail's attempted participation in the market in a more hands on setting. I prefer to take a more active approach to investing my money, and the amount of curious circumstances along with what I have witnessed first hand, leads me to believe retail is not getting a fair shake.
Large entities advocating for payment for order flow by way of helping retail is, at best, extremely disingenuous and at worst, outright theft. The opposite sides of the trade being able to see all of the metrics regarding the stock, and being able to trade faster, culminates in those entities with that information abusing it for personal gain.
Dark pools compound the problem with payment for order flow. Large portions of stock trades not going to a lit market must be an egregious oversight. This muddles prices discovery, pressure, and other essential functions for a fair market.
In the time I have been following the markets I have also found that the entities designed to protect retail seem to hinder retail. There have been many public statements made concerning the integrity of the markets and we have yet to see any appropriate countermeasures. These proposed rules seem to be a healthy boost to retail's protection in the markets, should they be actually implemented and enforced.
I am sure there are other investors who are more savvy in the ways of finance who can articulate these problems better than I can. I just wanted to try to make a difference and make sure that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, retail actually attempts to make it's voice heard.