Subject: Fwd: Objection to proposed rule change
From: Mairi Macleod
Affiliation:

Feb. 14, 2024

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Dear Sir/Madam 


RE: SR-OCC-2024-001 34-99393 entitled “Proposed Rule Change by The Options Clearing Corporation Concerning Its Process for Adjusting Certain Parameters in Its Proprietary System for Calculating Margin Requirements During Periods When the Products It Clears and the Markets It Serves Experience High Volatility” 


As a retail investor I have numerous concerns about the above OCC rule proposal. 
I vote "NO’ with respect to the proposal because: 
It does not provide any risk control - it simply temporarily contains it and ultimately continues to create an ever growing problem in the long term. It creates much greater systematic risk in the future. It will encourage bad behaviours, as participants will be making riskier bets in the security and knowledge that there will be no consequences to bad decision making. 
Instead of this rule change, margin requirements should be updated such that more margin is needed. 


Within your own document you state that there is a 99% expected shortfall (i.e. practically every participant is getting margin called). To drop the margin requirements lower, say 10% or 5%, the participants should be required to deposit more collateral to lower the expected shortfall amount. They should not be let off the hook because they have too much expected shortfall. 


Thank you for taking the time to review my concerns. ALL investors need a fair market. 


Best regards, 


Ms Macleod 




Mairi M MacLeod 


+44 7463 009 752