Mar. 19, 2023
Good afternoon, As a household investor I have been watching the past few weeks with great horror and humiliation as the powers that control "the free market" consistently and efficiently go out of their way to benefit market makers, short hedge funds, and anyone else that would look to earn money off the backs of Americans time and time again. Here is a list of reasons that transparency in the markets is a good thing and why it's heartbreaking that I need to explain why transparency in a "free market" is needed for a free market. Specifically looking at Hester and her hatred, corporate bought stance against transparency. Enforcement matters. We want higher fines, bigger penalties, actual consequences. Investors to support additional 0.64 cents more a share to avoid being routed througha wholesaler that has been charged over 70 times by the United States government (https://files.brokercheck.finra.org/firm/firm 116797pdf). The price improvement provided by these wholesalers is minimal and not worth the damage they bring to the market. Investors will gladly pay commission to avoid being routed through a wholesaler, especially one with a long record of flouting the law like Citadel Securities. Fully support the harmonisation of tick sizes across all exchanges. No exceptions, no "reasonable" vague language. Clear rules, clear language. Some exchanges shouldn't be granted an unfair advantage over others. It leads to monopolistic control of parts of the market that counteract and eventually kill the positive benefits of competition. The markets are supposed to be fair - so make them fair. Suggest that the definition of tick-constrained, whatever it is, should apply to as much of the market as possible. The rule would be watered down if the definition is too narrow. The important thing is that everyone trades and provides quotes according to the same rules. •Make it clear you very much dislike the presence of rebates and other inducements in the marketplace - they are simply payment for order flow by another name. We'd prefer the fees were reduced to zero, but .001 will do. No higher. Support the inclusion of odd-lot information in the SIP. Odd lots are a majority of trades and should have a greater impact on price. Make it clear you want odd lots to impact the NBB0 and have a concrete effect on both price and broker's duty of best execution. No one is exempt from the law and everyone should be held accountable. Please consider household investors as the current system is raking us over the coals and leaving us to die while the executives are giving themselves multimillion dollar bonuses immediately after being bailed out by us tax payer money. Yellen can say it isn't a bailout but we're going to get stuck with the bill which is 100% a bailout and they're giving themselves bonuses.