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?
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.)
Robinhood, which I believe you rightly suspect of gamification of trading, only has an incentive to continue gamifying, granting obscene margin to new traders and granting access to the use of complex options trading strategies, because of PFOF. They will continue to pocket the spread, while seeking suboptimal executions for their clients (to whom they owe a fiduciary duty). PFOF innately causes a conflict of interest. Everyone knows this, it seems, except the newer retail traders, who are continually at the losing end of this equation.
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 knowledge of financial products has increased, largely as a result of more reputable B/Ds like Fidelity providing educational resources for customers to use.
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 : 2-5 Years
Mutual Funds : 5+ Years
ETFs : Less Than 12 Months
Futures : None
Cryptocurrencies : None
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?
If I were to use margin on my account, and I was margin called due to a decline in value of the underlying, my trading would be restricted. However, I also experienced my trading of certain securities restricted in January, when Citadel Securities colluded with Robinhood LLC to drive down demand/price of certain securities by marking them as Position Close Only.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
The current regulations against market participants/MMs conducting naked short selling, are laughable. Until there exists a substantial punishment for market manipulation committed by ANYONE (to include designated market makers), the US markets will continue to play host to an entirely anti-Free Market environment, perpetuated by price manipulation committed at the highest levels. Short selling provides no service to consumers in the form of price discovery. It instead allows for predation on penny-stocks and smaller companies. It incentivizes misinformation in the media in order to drive down price. It is a cancer to our market.
As a result of my experience over the last year in the market, particularly as it pertains to the GME situation in January and the absolute absence of accountability of any kind, I have lost faith in the fairness of the US markets and the ability/desire of US regulators to make meaningful changes or take meaningful enforcement measures.