Subject: S7-18-21: WebForm Comments from Nicholas Mascari
From: Nicholas Mascari
Affiliation:

Aug. 16, 2022



August 16, 2022

 This rule should be passed due to the following points:------------------Transaction-by-Transaction reporting is necessary to keep a transparent market for retail. ------------------ The 15-minute reporting time is necessary to prevent fraud and hiding in legal loopholes. Fraud is abundant and rampant in larger funds and market makers due to the sheer complexity of the markets and the amount of raw money/power they have to influence decision-makers wherein they always 'come out on top'. ------------------ Victimized companies need a better ability to defend themselves against larger predatory companies, such as those mentioned in my previous point. The idea of 'short selling' in a market seems insane. Potentially infinite risk for limited reward while also harming real people working for real companies. Compare that to investing: limited risk for potentially infinite reward while also helping real people working for real companies. It just doesn't make any sense from a practical sta
 ndpoint why someone would choose to find a company to short when they could find a company to invest in, unless there is malicious intent and the person that is 'short' has the power/influence to win a majority of the time. ------------------ Retail benefits from increased transparency (which this rule would implement) by being able to make better decisions on our investments through due diligence and other research. ------------------ This rule would also enable retail, which has becoming increasingly more involved in the markets, to monitor short selling data for securities fraud -- a great benefit to the SEC at no cost. ------------------ This rule would also weaken the ability for long, untracked lending chains, which can cause different sectors of the market to become fragile due to the domino-like effect it can have if it begins to fall apart. ------------------ I have one last point, although this is more of an opinion. The SEC's statement on their homepage is this: \"The SEC
  enforces the securities laws to protect the more than 66 million American households that have turned to the securities markets to invest in their futureswhether its starting a family, sending kids to college, saving for retirement or attaining other financial goals\". The SEC's job is to protect retail. This rule would increase protections to retail. I'm just an ordinary retail investor. I don't have much money. I can't lobby and I can't exert influence/power over others. I hope the SEC fights for the millions of people like me even when faced with those that do lobby and do have influence/power over others.