April 23, 2022
I oppose this rule change. This proposal allows market participants like Archegos, Melvin Capital, and Tiger Global to \"kick the can down the road\". As a main street individual investor, I do not have access to the tools you are proposing to make available to banks, prime brokers, and hedge funds. This in no way aligns with your mission to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets, or facilitate capital formation unless by facilitating capital formation you mean creating additional financial instruments that can be used to manipulate a specific stock, or the broad market. This proposed rule protects bad actors that make bad bets and need additional time to cover. It does nothing to provide liquidity to the market or protect individual investors. A better solution to liquidity issues would be to increase capital requirements for market participants and members. Margin debt is near all-time highs adding pressure to black swan events, price to earnings ratios are more than double the mean standard, and the market cap in the US is almost double that of our gross domestic product. This is a proposal to prevent markets from normalizing. Market corrections are neccesary components of a healthy market. As earnings decline, so should stock values. As earnings increase stock value should rise. These concepts do not require a college degree but understanding the complexities of rules regarding market participants does. This does not create any protection for retail investors. It is now time to hold market participants accountable for poor financial decisions, not bail them out. Retail investors have become much more educated about market mechanics and are begining to realize the impact these rules have on 401K's, retirement accounts, and individual investment accounts. It is time to stand up for retail investors and stop protecting smash and grab firms like Melvin, Archegos, and Tiger.