August 27, 2021
1. Do you have one or more online trading or investment accounts?
Yes, I have one or more accounts that I access both online using a computer and using a mobile app.
2. If your response to Question 1 is Yes, do you think you would trade or invest if you could not do so online using a computer or using a mobile app?
Yes
3. On average, how often do you access your online account?
Daily/more than once a day
4. On average, how often are trades made in your online account, whether by you or someone else?
Once to a few times a week.
5. If you access your account online, did you have the account first, and only began to access it electronically later? Or did you open the account with the idea that you would access it electronically immediately?
I downloaded an app or visited a website first, and then opened up an account with the company
6. My goals for trading or investing in my online account are (check all that apply):
Save and grow my money for short-term goals (in the next year or two)
Save and grow my money for medium- to long-term goals
7. What would you like us to know about your experience with the features of your online trading or investment platform? (Examples of features are: social networking tools games, streaks, or contests with prizes points, badges, and leaderboards notifications celebrations for trading visual cues, like changing colors ideas presented at order placement or other curated lists or features subscription and membership tiers or chatbots.)
I do not care about any of the bells and whistles on the apps. To me that is all unnecessary noise. I use trading apps to grow my money. On Webull, for example, I access the comments section to gain knowledge of important due diligence about my investments or future investments opportunities. I use the graphs, etc to monitor my trades.
8. If you were trading or investing prior to using an online account, how have your investing and trading behaviors changed since you started using your online account? (For example, the amount of money you have invested, your interest in learning about investing and saving for retirement, the amount of time you have spent trading, your knowledge of financial products, the number of trades you have made, the amount of money you have made in trading, your knowledge of the markets, the number of different types of financial products you have traded, or your use of margin.)
9. How much experience do you have trading or investing in the following products (None, 12 months, 1-2 years, 2-5 years, 5+ years):
Stocks : Less Than 12 Months
Bonds : None
Options : Less Than 12 Months
Mutual Funds : None
ETFs : Less Than 12 Months
Futures : None
Cryptocurrencies : Less Than 12 Months
Commodities : None
ClosedEnd Funds : None
Money Market Funds : None
Variable Insurance Products : None
Business Development Companies : None
Unit Investment Trusts : None
10. What is your understanding, if any, of the circumstances under which trading or investing in your account can be suspended or restricted?
Based off of the events from January of 2021 when Robinhood and other trading platforms suddenly and without warning stopped the ability of retail traders to buy stocks is that trading can be restricted on the whims of the app operators. To me this is highly suspect and completely unprecedented, and quite possibly illegal and/or in collusion with other market makers. While retail was restricted, institutions could still trade openly. I find the timing of these stoppages (potential short squeezes across multiple securities known to be highly shorted, and from all indicators NAKED shorted beyond their legal float) extremely worrying and hope the SEC and other financial regulators truly have the best interests of your average retail trader in mind, as is your sworn duty.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
I am concerned about payment for order flow and how market makers like Citadel control nearly every aspect of retail investors trades. I am concerned about naked shorting and fail to delivers. I am concerned about collusion from market makers and brokers to restrict retail investors abilities to trade freely and make investment decisions on their own. I am concerned about dark pool abuse. I am concerned that when looking at the charts of, for example, $GME and $AMC, the manipulation is clearly visible in predictable patterns. I am concerned that even when inflow is greater than outflow, security prices seem to mysteriously go down instead of up. At this point, the inaction of the SEC and other regulatory bodies to properly and effectively enforce these financial crimes with stiff penalties (if I counterfeit a $20 bill, I would certainly be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and put in prison, yet when market makers counterfeit shares of a security, they walk away with a negligible fine and a slap on the wrist that is merely a minuscule fraction of their profits, instead of real penalties such as jail time, and not in some cushy white collar prison) seems to me like collusion. The pillaging of retail investors and the American public at the hands of the big financial institutions has got to end before it is too late and the people lose complete faith in the dollar and the financial system of the United States of America. The very future of our economy and financial system is at stake.