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Jon Wolfenbarger Comment On Regulatory Notice 22-08

Jon Wolfenbarger
N/A

The US Constitution guarantees Americans the right to life, liberty and property. That means Americans have the right to spend or invest their hard-earned after-tax income (property) however they see fit, as long as they do not violate the equal rights of other people. It is not possible to violate the rights of other people by voluntarily buying and selling from them. As a result, American investors should be free to benefit from financial innovations such as levered and inverse ETFs without having to pass a test to do so. Levered and inverse ETFs are easy for investors to understand, particularly with all of the disclosure required on them. They are MUCH easier to understand than most stocks, bonds, commodities and cryptocurrencies that investors are free to invest in. Levered and inverse ETFs enable investors to try to maximize profits and minimize risks based on their independent judgement of the opportunities and threats they see in financial markets. Levered ETFs enable investors to gain exposure to an investment with a smaller percentage of their portfolio than they would otherwise be able to. It also enables them to profit more from their high conviction investments without the risks and costs of borrowing on margin. Inverse ETFs enable investors to minimize risk by hedging their long positions in other assets. They also enable investors to profit from declining price trends without the high costs and risks of traditional short-selling, which is fully legal. Investors are adults who have earned their money and paid taxes on those earnings. They should be given the respect they are due and allowed to invest their money however they like without government interference. Levered and inverse ETFs are very valuable financial innovations that enable investors to profit from "leverage" and declining prices, just as the wealthiest investors can, but with less risk and costs. Please keep financial markets free and allow "small investors" to maximize profits as well as minimize risk with levered and inverse ETFs, just as "big investors" have been allowed to do throughout history.