September 25, 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?
Other.
If Other, Explain:
Sometimes up to 30 trades a day, other times I buy and hold and dont trade for weeks.
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
Have fun
Other
If Other, Explain:
In addition to growing my net worth and enjoying trading, I also seek to to provide value by supporting early stage innovative growth companies with capital.
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.)
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 : 5+ Years
Bonds : None
Options : 1-2 Years
Mutual Funds : 5+ Years
ETFs : 5+ Years
Futures : None
Cryptocurrencies : 1-2 Years
Commodities : None
ClosedEnd Funds : None
Money Market Funds : 1-2 Years
Variable Insurance Products : 1-2 Years
Business Development Companies : 5+ Years
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?
My understand is that in a free and fair market if a company such as robinhood were to suspend the ability to buy shares of a stock, while continuing to allow selling, and then a company such as citadel were to place short sales in a coordinated effort on the equities where buying was suspended- that would constitute illegal insider trading and market manipulation, disenfranchises retail traders, and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law in order to maintain the health of our economic system and trust in our marketplace.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
After observing over the last year what has been taking place with using pfof to front run, delay, or route trades through dark pools, naked shorting, using swaps and options contracts to create synthetic shares, and the general tendency for hedge funds and other groups to use these tactics to prey upon and bankrupt vulnerable companies - I have come to share many other traders concern and outrage that this is being permitted by the sec without strict regulatory action. When greater than 50% of trades are permitted to run through dark pools we no longer have a free and fair market. The trust in our system is being eroded daily and our financial stability is being put in jeopardy by a small group of trading entities (such as citadel) using their privileged position to consolidate trading and take on high levels of leverage and risk. In other countries there are simple common sense measures in place to protect their markets such as prohibiting the use of dark pools for retail trades. When the sec allows entities to use dark pools for retail trading, and naked shorting can be observed through high levels of failure to delivers and other ways such as months of continued shorting even when a stock is consistently at 100% utilization, and then the sec merely collects a small fine and allows the offending parties to continue on with their business- it gives the appearance that the sec is complicit in the abuse of the market and merely taking their cut rather than performing an important and independent regulatory function. My sincere hope is that the sec starts punishing those who are abusing our system in the ways discussed.