February 7, 2022
The last year's events regarding \"memestock madness\" among other events have made it fairly clear to me that our markets are very very far from free and fair. The bad actors of the past have simply found a new set of loopholes in which to exploit retail investors in ways that while they may in some cases technically be legal are a clear contravention of the intent of the rules. Furthermore, it is exceedingly apparent that many bad actors undertake to engage in ILLEGAL activities and simply write off the fines as a cost of doing business. The fact that a proposed regulation should need to seek to prohibit \"fraud, manipulation or deception\" at all is frankly appalling. I as a retail investor have labored under the assumption for years that such things were already prohibited and was shocked to find that many of these regulations were proposed after 2008 and then not implemented or made toothless.
If America and it's markets are to continue to thrive into the future we MUST ensure a fair and stable system where the average American can have any confidence whatsoever that their well researched and informed investment choices will be reflected fairly through market forces, and not through the easy manipulation of hedge funds throwing around trillions of dollars in assets under management. I have watched this past year as millions of American's faith and confidence in the system of our markets has been eroded, and I have watched as case after clear case of manipulation has harmed those same Americans simply to line the pockets of billionaires.
These regulations are merely a step in the right direction to help make our markets what they need to be.