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?
No
3. On average, how often do you access your online account?
Less often than once a month
4. On average, how often are trades made in your online account, whether by you or someone else?
Less often than once a month.
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 had a pre-existing account and downloaded an app or visited a website to access my account
6. My goals for trading or investing in my online account are (check all that apply):
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.)
The worst experience from nearly all app focused services catering to retail investors is market makers front running our orders using payment for order flow.
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.)
My interest in learning the actual mechanics of the market has increased. I have a 401k, HSA, crypto holdings, and some money invested personally both for long term growth and shorter term market plays. I only invested smaller amounts in my personal accounts and mostly let me other accounts be managed under employer plans, etc. Now Im taking a more hands on approach to my investing.
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 : 5+ Years
Bonds : 5+ Years
Options : Less Than 12 Months
Mutual Funds : None
ETFs : None
Futures : None
Cryptocurrencies : 5+ Years
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?
I trade in cash not margin for all investing. Fidelity is the brokerage I use and they have confirmed my account should not be put under restrictions such as buying and selling off stock.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
In a digital world you have to be able to verify you own the equity your purchasing, and you have to have total trust in your brokerage to act in your best interest. There are several practices taking place in the markets, especially by app based brokerages, that are entirely antithetical to those interest. Payment for order flow allows market makers to front run retail orders, giving themselves best execution using high frequency trading algorithms and retail comes up short in every way when stacked against that. Then there is the abuse of dark pool trading, rather than retail orders being executed on lit markets. The president of the NYSE specifically acknowledged some meme stocks are seeing upwards of 70% of trading volume executed on dark pools. Based on my understanding of the function of dark pool trading this is meant as an avenue for large share sales to happen off exchange to not affect price, not for thousands of orders for 1-50 shares a piece daily. Lastly is the abuse of market maker privileges to naked short sell well outside the intended use of providing liquidity to the markets. Abuse of these privileges causing uncertainty in investors and a loss of faith of the free US market, and whether the share price on the ticker is representative of the actual fair market price.