Feb. 7, 2024
Thanks for letting me speak up about the OCC's proposal on margin requirements during high market volatility. I'm really against it and don't think it should go through. My big worry is that it's not clear enough, which makes it hard for regular folks to understand and give their thoughts. This could mean some investors, especially small ones, might get a raw deal because they're not getting the protection they need. The OCC says they need to lower margin requirements sometimes to stop one problem from causing lots of others. But I think if investors aren't being careful with their risks, they should deal with the consequences, not get off easy with lower margin requirements. There's also a problem with the person supposed to watch out for risks. They might end up protecting failing investors instead of looking after the OCC's interests, which is not good. Plus, the proposal doesn't make sense. It wants to lower margin requirements but also worries about investors not having enough cash if things go wrong. That doesn't add up. I think instead of lowering requirements, we should make them tougher based on how risky things are for investors. That way, investors will be more careful, and we won't have to bail them out as often. To sum up, I'm against this proposal and think it needs some big changes before it goes any further.