Aug. 16, 2022
August 16, 2022 I am an individual retail investor. In light of the recent volatility associated with popular 'retail investor' stocks I fully support the proposed rule, S7-18-21, to increase transparency of the securities lending market. Please do not allow the comment submissions from the legal agencies of short sellers to drown out the overwhelming support I believe this proposal will receive from individual retail investors. I am not a professional of finance, but I have invested a significant amount of personal time, and effort into learning about economics, finance, and investment banking. Frankly, it is shocking how little transparency currently exists in our free market economy. According to Wikipedia: \"In the United States in 2009, high-frequency trading firms represented 2% of the approximately 20,000 firms operating today, but accounted for 73% of all equity orders volume\" 1 The frequency with which reporting is done must be increased to provide an adequate temporal measure of visibility to these trades. To paraphrase other comments: \"The DOJ has recently focused on exactly this type of fraud, and empowering law enforcement is a prime benefit of transaction-by-transaction, high temporal resolution reporting. Retail investors deserve to be fully informed of the risks they are taking on when they purchase securities. The Chair Gary Gensler has highlighted that specific point many times. It is the SECs core mission to protect retail investors. It is time for them to be consistent with that mission, even if big funds complain about cost and inconvenience. Integrity is not free. Market integrity is not free. A truly free market does not happen without effort and inconvenience.\" In closing, please understand that I made this comment on my own time. It is important to many individual investors that we be given the opportunity to make well informed investment decisions, which is why I support rule S7-18-21 Furthermore, I believe this proposal puts the S.E.C. in a better position uncover fraudulent activity. Sincere Regards, Adam J. Rock 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-frequency_trading