January 30, 2020
Rather than interfere with decision-making by investors whose direct economic experience exceeds your own, perhaps you should all take a leave of absence, sublet your space, and find useful employment. The proposed rule is overreach on an extraordinary scale. It threatens to deprive investors of means of balancing portfolio risk (through inverse leveraged products) or maximize exposure where desirable without maximizing capital allocation (through leveraged long products). You might as well restrict trading in securities beginning with the letter "T." (I'm not sure I should risk saying this one should never give busybodies with a mission an idea.) Whether we like it or not, investors have to assess risk and reward on our own because there is no superior source of knowledge out there. All I can ask of the SEC is to refrain from interfering with this process. The agency is doing the best it can do by requiring corporate disclosure and enforcing deterrents to fraud. Beyond that, please fold you hands and sit aside and let market participants do our jobs.