Dear FINRA Staff, It seems to me that Citadel (including some of its subsidiaries) is taking advantage of its status as a market maker and at the same time as a hedge fund with exceptionally high short interest in AMC (and also in Gamestop). Based on the data available through fintel.io, Ortex and other sources, it seems they are manipulating prices in their favor. For me, the assumption is close that in this case also strong naked short selling is the order of the day. This is an imminent disadvantage for me as a retail investor. Retail investors have neither the possibility to use a dark pool nor to engage in naked short selling. However, we do not want to do that either. We want a fair market price that corresponds to demand. The often disproportionately high ratio of buyers to sellers in the market obviously does not have a positive effect on the price of AMC stock (as is usually the case). This leads me to the assumption that the order flow, in particular by the market maker Citadel, is controlled with the help of certain algorithms in such a way that often a controlled downtrend in the price is to be registered. Possibly short ladder attacks are also executed for this purpose. I have concerns that this bubble and the presumed illegal machinations of participants such as Citadel could lead to a strong impairment of the U.S. economy and possibly also the global market economy. This could also have a lasting impact on confidence in the stock markets in the long term, if share prices are indeed heavily manipulated. I would be very pleased if you could address this concern. Furthermore, I hope that my explanations were understandable, since English is not my native language.
Dominik Comment On Regulatory Notice 21-19
Dear FINRA Staff, It seems to me that Citadel (including some of its subsidiaries) is taking advantage of its status as a market maker and at the same time as a hedge fund with exceptionally high short interest in AMC (and also in Gamestop). Based on the data available through fintel.io, Ortex and other sources, it seems they are manipulating prices in their favor. For me, the assumption is close that in this case also strong naked short selling is the order of the day. This is an imminent disadvantage for me as a retail investor. Retail investors have neither the possibility to use a dark pool nor to engage in naked short selling. However, we do not want to do that either. We want a fair market price that corresponds to demand. The often disproportionately high ratio of buyers to sellers in the market obviously does not have a positive effect on the price of AMC stock (as is usually the case). This leads me to the assumption that the order flow, in particular by the market maker Citadel, is controlled with the help of certain algorithms in such a way that often a controlled downtrend in the price is to be registered. Possibly short ladder attacks are also executed for this purpose. I have concerns that this bubble and the presumed illegal machinations of participants such as Citadel could lead to a strong impairment of the U.S. economy and possibly also the global market economy. This could also have a lasting impact on confidence in the stock markets in the long term, if share prices are indeed heavily manipulated. I would be very pleased if you could address this concern. Furthermore, I hope that my explanations were understandable, since English is not my native language.