Oct. 31, 2022
October 31, 2022 October 31, 2022 Dear SEC, I am an individual investor that engages in the US capital markets and write today to comment on the SEC's proposed rule S7-18-21 for Reporting of Securities Loans. There have been some institutions that have submitted comments on this rule that actually want it withdrawn. Some even claim that more transparency would have a negative impact on retail investors, which is blatantly false and can only be a desperate attempt to maintain their very lucrative approach of operating in the dark. These institution clearly want to maintain their profit levels, rather than do what is best for the market. The proposed rule currently benefits retail investors, pension funds and the like from the increased transparency. The rule would better show the risks involved with the investment we're making, before it is made. When short selling practices occur in the dark and 'current' short sale information is provided long after a position has been entered into, retail investors and the like cannot be aware of the risks that they take on when buying securities. You can understand why this lack of information would represent a problem for all investors, who are expected to invest on incomplete and dated short sale information. I support the intraday 15 minute reporting requirement. The cost and effort involved with this is justified to help in early identification of abusive shorting practices, to reduce the ability of toxic market participants to hide behind loopholes and to attempt to prevent such fraud occurring in the capital markets. The new rule would also provide any victimized companies a greater ability to defend themselves against predatory short selling, as short selling in the dark harms true competition and price discovery. The enactment of this rule would also introduce the ability for the general public as well as public companies to serve as watchdogs for the SEC as an initial line of defense against abusive practices, by being able to more granularly monitor short selling for securities fraud for those securities they are invested in, helping and strengthening the SEC's ability to fulfill it's mandate and to help weed out market participants that are working against SEC rules, all at no additional cost to the SEC. I am a strong supporter of transaction by transaction reporting. It is clear that aggregated reporting is not transparent and provides far too much rope where fraud can be hidden in aggregates. Why should one individual or entity have to suffer a worse execution whilst another individual or entity benefits from a better execution, just because it is more convenient for certain institutions to report their short selling practices in the aggregate? It is wholly unfair and contrary to the requirement of best execution and so it should be a mandated requirement for transaction by transaction reporting. In conclusion, I support the Short Sale Reporting rule in its current format and recommend that this should be enacted in it's current format to help all manner of investors better understand the risks involved with the investments they are making, before they are making them. Regards, Gauge Hook