Aug. 16, 2022
August 16, 2022
It is vital to the health of the US financial system that all parties have access to transaction-by-transaction data with as rapid of updates as possible. We are already in an existential crisis which was created by their absence, and it is utterly irresponsible not to use this opportunity to fix the rules.
Without moment to moment data, it creates the opportunity for parasitic elements within the financial system to \"hide within the aggregate\" allowing market manipulation that is difficult to identify (let alone prosecute) and is being used to execute, butcher, and sacrifice entire American companies in plain sight. Transparency means transparency and aggregates are not transparent.
The most vital aspect of this proposal is the 15-minute reporting requirement. In 2022 it is utterly absurd to argue that the costs and/or effort are burdensome: the reporting computer doesn't even know the difference between a 15-minute vs. a 90-day requirement, any more than your toaster knows whether it has one slice of bread or two when you push the lever down. And even IF there were tremendous cost: it is still justified by the need for fair and transparent markets. It is insane that large banks and brokers treat regulatory fines as a cost of doing business, but balk when even smaller costs are suggested to improve market efficiency.
I mentioned the execution of US companies: under the current regime there is insufficient transparency for the victimized company to identify what is happening, let alone defend themselves. And if the companies abusing the opacity deny that they are doing it: then they should have no objections to improved transparency to prevent any possible abuse in the future It is immoral to create a system that is so prone to abuse, and we have an opportunity to fix it.
Victimized companies need a greater ability to defend themselves against these predatory parasites, and short selling in the dark harms true competition and price discovery. The idea that a small number of short-selling funds \"know best\" and can hammer unsuspecting companies in the dark is shameful.
Retail investors - the life blood of the middle class - will benefit from increased transparency, and absolutely no innocent brokerages will be harmed even a hair. Retail investors cannot possibly assess risks when they can't see how the prices are being manipulated. The very existence of dark pools makes main street unaware of the massive risks that would otherwise be obvious. How many families need to lose their entire retirement fund before we allow them to understand what is actually happening?
The public is the best first-line watchdog to monitor fraudelent and abusive short-selling. Increased transparency allows a de facto crowd sourcing of effort, and will massively strengthen the SEC, improving its ability to fulfill its mandate at NO COST.
As we face the next several months of financial uncertainty, the future includes the prospect and impact of dark lending chains, opaque positions that are leveraged beyond reason, and parasites that have fully instrumented the host organism when the host itself is unaware... A market correction is coming, and failure to require full transparency will only guarantee that the parasite fully consumes the legitimate value created by what has been, heretofore, the greatest economic system in the world.
History will judge harshly the individuals who allow such a system to descend into putrescence and filth, even if those individuals somehow manage to live with their own conscience.