February 7, 2022
I am a retail investor who was impacted by the curious market events of 2021. I believe that transparency should be the underpinning feature of the stock market. Every trade, every position should be publicly available for all to see because the risks of operating in the market while being invisible to everyone else is so dangerous it risks the entire market's stability (as we can clearly see).
I like to think of the markets as a freeway and the vehicles on the road are the investors. Big institutional investors hauling around giant trailers and small retail investors like myself driving a 2 door coupe. What if those big institutional investors, driving their big rigs down the freeway, were invisible? Would that make the freeway safer? Would that allow me to make safe lane changes or overtake a slower motorist? Of course not.
So why does it make sense to have any part of the market operate invisible to everyone else? This measure takes a nice big step forward, but it is just one step forward. Please enforce this appropriately and stop slapping fines of pennies on the dollar to the entities who violate it. Then let's work on bringing full transparency to the rest of the market.