May 24, 2010
The entire issue regarding the volatility in the markets are not being addressed by the SEC nor anyone else. Gaming the system with circuit breakers does nothing but allow the casino that is now Wall Street to ramp up the gambling to no end. Circuit breakers were supposedly in place for decades now, yet they never have done one thing to protect consumers, individual investors, or retirement accounts.
Ever since day trading was instituted it has run amok, and is the greatest cause of the market problems. The rules for day trading are not equal to all investors. Allowing those with massive dollars to do what they want when they want, does not protect those with accounts with less than the $25,000 minimum to daytrade. Thereby, leaving them exposed to the same criminal activity engaged by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The DTCC cannot even keep up with daily transactions and have no clue what shares belong where. They don't know who is selling naked shares nor how many. The Reg Sho rules did nothing, and have yet to do anything to ensure proper delivery of shares sold to a buyer. Companies remain on this list for 2yrs or more, and the rule states those impairments are to be cleared up within 13 days.
Derivatives exposure is one of the main issues that need to be dealt with and regulated. High Frequency Trading(HFT) needs to be banned period. Computer algorithm trading is not investing. The markets have not been an investment medium for retirement, for the past 20 years and never will be again, until these trading activities are curbed. Circuit breakers only allow these individuals to continue to push markets to unhealthy levels that fundamentals do not support.
If you want to end volatility and market abuses, get rid of day trading and high frequency trading period. Otherwise, expect more loopholes to be found, and more ways fabricated by these large institutions to continue the casino operations. Yes, the US markets are nothing more than one big casino, where the house, Goldman Sachs and JPM Morgan Chase, will always benefit at the expense of others and their own clients.
Attempts to continue to modify the playing field, instead of eliminating the real problems, will continue to mask the issues, until the next crisis occurs. The SEC is part of the blame for what the markets have become, because their lack of response allowed the problems to escalate over the years to epic proportions. Allowing the sale of paper products(derivatives and ETF funds that hold none of the assets they sell through the paper), that represent real assets like gold and silver should be banned completely. This is nothing more than allowing large institutions to completely control and manipulate the very assets they have been manipulating for decades now.
I hope there is more on the table to stop the fraud and abuses in the markets, than circuit breakers that will be used to game the system even further. Anyone, who thinks otherwise, is in on the game and just as guilty.