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 online using a computer.
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?
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?
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 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.)
Online trading apps are heavily trying to play into the gambling elements of trading, even using typical gambling Staples such as confetti, spinning wheels, etc. The brokerage firms doing this are treating their members as a source of revenue between this and payment for Order Flow. They are no longer acting as brokerages, and instead monetizing the data of their customers, and should have their licenses revoked.
Any company offering trading whose executives are not licensed brokers should be immediately shut down.
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 : 2-5 Years
Bonds : None
Options : 1-2 Years
Mutual Funds : None
ETFs : None
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?
A brokerage can shut down buying on my end for any reason a market maker wants, while a market maker and hedge funds don't have those restrictions. There is no free market under these conditions when felony insider trading can occur without legal ramification.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
The SEC has consistently failed to protect retail investors and the pensions of hard working Americans and protect the American free market, and should be embarrassed at their failure to perform the mission it was built for.
Online trading for American stocks should be backed by Blockchain as soon as possible, the SEC should publicly state its intention to work towards implementing a free market in which ledgers are public and verifiable by anyone.