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?
No
3. On average, how often do you access your online account?
Once to a few times a week
4. On average, how often are trades made in your online account, whether by you or someone else?
Once to a few times per 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 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 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 dislike the fact that brokerage accounts have links to articles and discussions to editorialized journalism by companies such as Motley Fool, MarketWatch and CNBC. These institutions provide very slanted views on market dynamics that seem geared towards benefiting insiders and large financial firms on Wall Street. They come off as manipulative to me and many other retail investors. There are countless instances where articles and news links to these sources of journalism essentially amount to pump and dump schemes, vying for the attention and participation of every day American and foreign investors to be used as pawns for wealth generation/accumulation by large financial institutions. Specifically when investment ideas proffered by the aforementioned news sites are for ticker symbols that will ultimately be routed to exchanges and market makers that benefit from payment for order flow. This, even to a layperson, amount to clearcut market manipulation that allows large firms to make trades in front of retail investors in which they will siphon off small percentages of trades carried out by many thousands of retail traders who are disingenuously misled by the aforementioned news sources. I believe that broker sites and apps should not offer any links to dubious sources of information and only sources of fundamentals and financial statistics about publicly traded companies. This would allow retail traders to make their own decisions about their trades based on their own individual due diligence and assessments of their potential investments.
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.)
Never traded before the advent of digitized brokerage services.
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 : 1-2 Years
Bonds : None
Options : None
Mutual Funds : 1-2 Years
ETFs : Less Than 12 Months
Futures : None
Cryptocurrencies : 1-2 Years
Commodities : None
ClosedEnd Funds : None
Money Market Funds : None
Variable Insurance Products : None
Business Development Companies : Less Than 12 Months
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 have a cursory knowledge of what can result in an account suspension. I dont have access to margin features in my account to keep me out of trouble by making trades and investments which I know are too complicated or risky for me. However, this isnt the case with many retail investors. So many small investors see the easy access to marginable securities as a possibility to win big but dont quite understand stand the risks it poses to them. I believe brokerage services should not be so frivolous with providing access to margin accounts. Perhaps it would be best if brokers forced introductory educational videos and follow up questionnaires to users who are seeking access to a margin account before it is made available to them. It may dissuade many traders from entering into overly risky positions, and limit their exposure to unknown/misunderstood risk.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
I dont like the fact that with almost any broker, even though they say the shares I purchase in cash are mine alone, yet they are ultimately made available to large financial entities to borrow against to generate profits which are not shared with me. It makes sense that this would be the case for positions acquired in a margin account, but not purchased in cash. My ownership in street name is still ownership of what amounts to my personal property. If an entity would like to lend those assets out for short sales, as the owner of that property, I should at least be entitled to profit-sharing on any gains accrued from that lending agreement that I apparently have no power to make decisions over. Even though my broker says they dont lend out my shares, I know for a fact that the DTCC who stewards the ownership of my property is lending those shares and profiting from it. This is theft. I own my car but no entity on earth is allowed to rent it out to someone I dont know without my say and make money off of my property. Unlicensed share lending of position purchased in cash is the same thing, and should be stopped. Shares in margin accounts, sure. But not cash accounts with money that I earned myself and am using to try to grow wealth and support great American companies.