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?
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.)
My brokers offer Free trading as a result of a switch to predatory payment for order flow that was the result of a monopolistic merger. I would rather pay $5-$10/trade than have my trading information sold to hedge funds that (desire conflicts of interest) are also market makers.
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.)
Since 2013-2019 my trading account equity has decreased around $30,000-$40,000. I picked GOOD companies (and still good positions in them) that have been blatantly targeted by entities that combined manipulative warped news campaigns with blatant with short selling schemes, and were able to do so because they publicly started in the small print at the end of their misleading articles that they held positions that would allow them to profit if the price fell.
More recently with the help of public social media which has allowed for me to gain the same kind of understanding about public sentiment that hedge funds usually enjoy privately) and make investment decisions based on crowd sourced publicly available knowledge, and I am finally seeing equity returns on more recent investments- in this regard I now have an advantage over manipulating, coordinating hedge funds that operate via criminal conspiracies.
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 : None
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?
As I understand it, only the SEC can legally restrict trading of a security when it determines that it poses a risk to investors- for example if a company issues fraudulent or misleading information in its press releases.
11. What else would you like us to know positive or negative - about your experience with online trading and investing?
The user interfaces are fine trades SHOULD be easy to make, but brokers should be restricted from sharing trade information with ANY 3rd parties without the traders explicit consent in wet ink. Retail traders should have ALL the same information made available to them that hedge funds and market makers have when making trading decisions.
No hedge fund or market maker -or entity that may be any combination of both- should ever own their own or operate, through any connection, any publishing outlets.