February 7, 2022
I applaud the SEC for beginning to tackle the difficult task of cleaning up the financial markets in the United States.
One glaring omission that I see is the lack of meaningful penalties. When financial companies are making millions of dollars a day trading against retail customers and their clients, the ONLY penalties that can be meaningful are jail time for executives or removal of trading privileges for the company's lack of moral character.
If financial penalties are in order, they need to be calculated as a percentage of annual revenue. For example, if I make $100,000 per year and I get a speeding ticket for $250, that is 0.25% of my annual revenue, and this is a somewhat meaningful penalty for a first offence. This 0.25% escalating to 10% of annual company-wide revenue (for more serious offences) should be the standard for each violation of SEC rules as well.