Mar. 9, 2023
Hello Chairman Gensler Thank you for taking the time to listen to the household investor like myself, even if I am writing to you from Canada. I listened to the Jon Stewart podcast in which you agree that we need more transparency on a core part of the market which is on shorting and stock borrowing. Institutional investors already have a significant advantage over the household investor, more transparency is required to help level the playing field. Transparency: If an investment manager takes a long position on a stock they have to disclose that position in a reasonable time. Why is it that these same managers do not have to disclose their short positions? Currently short positions and self reported, this needs to change so household investors can make an educated investment decision with all the information present. FTD and naked shorting: The markets were designed to operate in a in which price discovery is dictated by the pressures of supply and demand, this is basic economics. I cannot sell something I do not own, this is illegal. Only in the investing world can a company sell something they don’t own and never deliver (FTD). Naked shorting and FTDs disrupt the natural order of price discovery through the increase of supply. This should not be allowed, especially when market makers are also managing hedge funds and are able to increase the supply to manipulate stock prices lower at will. Market makers use the excuse of “liquidity” as their reason to FTD. For the markets to work properly we need proper price discovery, if there is a lot of demand for a security and supply is minimal, prices should rise. More control over these actions is required. Thank you for taking the time to listen to household investors. I urge you to improve transparency and enforce current rules with penalties that will dissuade these institutions from continue their actions and simply viewing these fines as a cost of doing business. Stephen Sent from Mail for Windows