October 15, 2021
The ability to halt trading for two days would be harmful to retail investors. This rule would allow for larger institutions to continue to trade within the dark pools, while retail investors cannot trade at all. This rule would be used as a form of market manipulation. There are countless fines that have been given out by the SEC to institutions that have been manipulating prices of securities within the dark pools and continue to abuse it. If an institutions were short a certain stock and forced to close their position, this could bankrupt them. However, a two day halt would give them time to keep the price lower by using the dark pool illegally. A fine from the SEC for this dark pool manipulation would be much cheaper than closing their position.
There is also conflict of interest. The chairman of the NYSE would have the authority to halt trading for two days. The current chairmans wife has a charity which has been accepting millions of dollars in donations from Ken Griffin and his market maker known as Citadel. Citadel and Ken Griffin are currently under investigation by the SEC for coordinating with brokers to prevent trading of certain securities. This new rule appears to be another way to harm retail investors by stopping them from buying and selling, and allowing them to manipulate the market. The fact that Citadel has ties with the current chairman of the NYSE through donations should be a red flag for the SEC.
This new wave of retail investors is uncovering a lot of corruption within the stock market and our regulatory agencies. This rule is not in favor of retail investors and should easily be denied by the SEC. Their argument that the proposed rule is to protect retail is a joke.