Tag: Citadel News (Page 1 of 2)

Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists

Market News Daily - Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.
Market News Daily – Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.

A Citadel spokesperson is deeming retail advocacy group “We The Investors” and founder Dave Lauer as conspiracists.

Many retail investors support the advocacy group, which aims at helping create market transparency for all and encourages regulators to pass proposals that will level the playing field for retail investors.

Nearly 35,000 retail investors have signed a letter to the SEC published by We The Investors requesting improvements to market rules and new disclosures.

The letter is introducing new disclosure in lending transparency, margin transparency, netting transparency, FTD transparency, as well as disclosure of registration, and many other rules that will help level the playing field for retail investors.

We The Investors has held two online meetings since December with SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took questions directly from retail investors on the proposals, which include requiring most retail stock orders to be sent to auctions to boost competition.

Other proposed rules call for a new standard for brokers to demonstrate they’ve gotten the best execution for clients on transactions, as well as lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, and stronger disclosure around retail order executions.

But Wall Street, including Ken Griffin’s Citadel is pushing back.

“Baseless Conspiracy Theories”

We The Investors has urged the SEC to ban Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), a practice that Dave Lauer considers unethical.

“The system uses individual investors as products. It doesn’t support them,” says Dave.

The Wall Street Journal says that many brokerages, trading firms and academic researchers say individual investors get a good deal in the current system.

They say payment for order flow has benefited investors by allowing brokers to offer zero-commission trading and to execute orders at better prices than those quoted on public stock exchanges.

Many industry veterans say Mr. Lauer’s criticism is misguided, and they criticize him for peddling what they consider baseless conspiracy theories.

However, in 2004 Citadel said that payment for order flow “creates conflicts of interest and should be banned”, according to an SEC file.

“Citadel Group urges the commission to ban payment for order flow. This practice distorts order routing decisions, is anti-competitive, and creates an obvious and substantial conflict of interest between broker-dealers and their customers, said Citadel in a 2004 SEC filing.

“David Lauer spent nine months as an analyst at Citadel 14 years ago,” a Citadel spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

“While he may consider himself an authority on how the equity market functions, his rhetoric is unsupported by data and often veers into conspiracy.”

“The Game is Rigged”, Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

While pushback from Wall Street is expected, millions of retail investors have educated themselves in the market well enough to understand what is and what isn’t beneficial to their investments.

Payment for order flow and dark pool trading are just two of the tools retail investors want to ban from the market.

Dark pools suppress a stock’s price from rising, slashing true retail demand in the market by 50%-70% or more — will Wall Street argue that dark pools are good for retail investors too?

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game.”

Patrick says the rules of the game also heavily favor hedge funds, something retail investors have urged SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for years to change.

“I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.”

You can read Patrick’s full story here.

Citadel may deem retail investors as conspiracists, but this is just a coping mechanism.

I’d love to know what you think — leave your thoughts below.

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Market News Today - Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.
Market News Today – Citadel Deems Retail Advocacy Group as Conspiracists.

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Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna Fight Biotech Company Lawsuit

Market News Daily - Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna Fight biotech company lawsuit.
Market News Daily – Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna Fight Biotech Company Lawsuit.

Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna, and others are fighting a lawsuit from cancer research company Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTCMKTS:NWBO).

Others in the lawsuit include Canaccord Genuity LLC, G1 Execution Services LLC, GTS Securities LLC, Instinet LLC, and Lime Trading Corp.

Some retail investors might be familiar with a few of these names involved in the handling of their MMTLP shares, which developed into one of the biggest financial frauds on Wall Street.

Northwest Biotherapeutics has sued eight of the US’s largest market-making traders alleging they drove down its share price by placing sell orders they had no intention of executing, also known as ‘spoofing’.

The complaint, filed by Northwest Biotherapeutics in a federal court in New York on Thursday, claimed that the traders “deliberately engaged in repeated spoofing that interfered with the natural forces of supply and demand” by placing tens of millions of fake orders between December 2017 and August of last year.

Comments from Northwest Biotheraputics

The trading companies would then cancel those orders and buy Northwest’s shares at an artificially lower price, the complaint alleged.

Lawyers for the clinical-stage biotechnology firm claimed a “particularly egregious example” of this activity took place in May, after the publication of what they maintain were positive trial data for Northwest’s DCVax-L brain cancer drug.

The study’s design had been questioned by scientists, per FT.

The news “should have caused NWBO’s share price to increase, absent manipulation in the market”, they wrote, referring to the company’s stock symbol.

Instead, it dropped from $1.73 to a low of $0.3862. 

“This staggering decline of 78 per cent in the price on a day with extremely positive news about the company was caused by defendants’ relentless and brazen manipulation of the market for NWBO shares,” lawyers at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll added.

Ken Griffin Objects to the Allegations

“This frivolous lawsuit appears to be nothing more than an attempt by Northwest Biotherapeutics to divert attention away from its long history of governance and management failures, SEC charges for financial reporting lapses, and lawsuits from its own shareholders,” Citadel Securities said in a statement.

“We intend to pursue any and all legal action against Northwest Biotherapeutics for making these false and baseless allegations, which only undermine the integrity of our capital markets,” the trading company added.

“It’s already underhanded to engage in market manipulation, but to do so at the expense of cancer patients, some of whom have no other treatments to place their hopes on, is unconscionable,” said Laura Posner, a partner at Cohen Milstein.

Retail investors are enraged by the continued scandals from Citadel and other market makers.

Citadel has a long history of market manipulation and fines.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game,” says ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue.

Shares of NWBO stock are currently trading at $0.64, respectively.

The retail community wants to see some form of justice surrounding the lawsuit.

The U.S. government is treading a fine line waiving market injustices — the SEC recently scrapped plans to vote on a hedge fund transparency rule.

Plaintiffs File Motion to Dismiss

Today, Citadel and the defendants have filed a joint memorandum of law in support of motion to dismiss this case.

If the motion to dismiss is approved, retaliation from investors around the world may grow.

In January, Occupy SEC 2023 raised awareness of the market injustices the retail community has endured over the past years.

While the protest was peaceful, the neglect is hurting the lives of real people and there’s no telling just how far these events may eventually escalate to.

Investors on social media fear peaceful protests are no longer going to create an impact but rather through alternative means.

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Market News Today - Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna Fight biotech company lawsuit.
Market News Today – Citadel, Virtu, Susquehanna Fight Biotech Company Lawsuit.

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Citadel’s Ken Griffin Warns of Recession in America

Market News Daily: Citadel's Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.
Market News Daily: Citadel’s Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.

Citadel’s Ken Griffin warns of a recession in America, though many would be quick to state the nation is already in one.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo were one of the first to warn people in Q4 of last year.

Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel was amongst the very few who turned in profits last year when majority of the industry lost $208 Billion for clients.

This marked the biggest single-year decline since 2008, when they lost $565 billion, LCH data showed.

Citadel’s gain of $16 billion last year was the largest annual gain ever made by a hedge fund manager, LCH said.

Retail investors grow weary of the hedge funds gains, comparing Ken Griffin to Bernie Madoff, who also never posted losses despite the industry crashing.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game,” says ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue.

But Ken Griffin says he sees a setup for a US recession primarily due to people’s savings accounts being tarnished.

Here’s what the Citadel CEO had to say.

Ken Griffin Sees Setup for a US Recession

Market News Daily: Citadel's Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.
Market News Daily: Citadel’s Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.

(Bloomberg) Ken Griffin said the setup for a US recession is unfolding, with the Federal Reserve needing to raise interest rates further after Americans were stung with “traumatic” levels of inflation.

The founder of Citadel and Citadel Securities said the Fed is limited in how much it can fight inflation with interest-rate increases, likening the tool to “having surgery with a dull knife.”

“We have the setup for a recession unfolding,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg in Palm Beach, Florida.

Ken Griffin said he would advise Powell to say “less” on inflation.

“Every time they take the foot off the brake, or the market perceives they’re taking their foot off the brake, and the job’s not done, they make their work even harder.”

Ken predicted in 2020 that US markets would struggle with rampant inflation.

He said his firm is not far away from current market consensus on price growth.

“Americans are burning through their pandemic savings, and soaring interest rates are threatening the housing market and other parts of the economy.

That’s a recipe for a downturn, Ken Griffin told Bloomberg.”

Related: Citadel, Charles Schwab Team Up to Destroy SEC Proposals

Ken Griffin News: Citadel’s Ken Griffin talks recession, inflation, + more.

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Market News Daily: Citadel's Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.
Market News Daily: Citadel’s Ken Griffin warns of recession in America.

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Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling

Market News Today - Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.
Market News Today – Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.

(BK) The Securities and Futures Commission of the Financial Services Commission imposed a pecuniary penalty of 6.05 billion won (US$4.58 million) on two securities companies that committed naked short selling.

The Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act of South Korea was revised in April 2021 so that illegal short sellers will face pecuniary penalties instead of fines.

The two companies have become the first such case.

Today, naked short selling is illegal in South Korea, unlike covered short selling.

Investors in the United States have raised naked short selling concerns on social media, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to model the practice of nations such as South Korea.

Previously, illegal short selling in the South Korean stock market was detected infrequently and violators could go almost unpunished.

This is because the maximum fine according to the act before the revision was 100 million won (US$75,694).

According to the amended act, the maximum pecuniary penalty is equal to the amount of illegal short selling.

In addition, violation may lead to at least one year in prison or a fine equivalent to 300 to 500 percent of the illegal profit or avoided loss.

This model is raising attention in the United States as the predatorial practice has dominated the industry for decades.

Naked Short Selling in America

Market News Today - Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.
Market News Today – Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.

Today, naked short selling in the American markets is given a blind eye.

Retail investors believe U.S. regulators to be complicit in the market injustices that occur on a daily basis.

(Singapore) Genius Group (NYSEAMERICAN:GNS) CEO Roger Hamilton has led CEOs to take legal action against naked short selling in the market.

He recently shared a petition on social media to end naked short selling in efforts to raise awareness of the illegal short selling strategy.

Naked shorting is the illegal practice of short selling shares that have not been affirmatively determined to exist, per Investopedia.

The predatorial practice allows short sellers to short a stock without there actually being any stock available to short.

In 2015, The SEC approved the use of naked short selling on IPOs although it was deemed an illegal practice in 2010.

Roger Hamilton says he noticed something was wrong in his company stock after shares would plummet despite his company having strong fundamentals and funding.

This is when he began to speak publicly about what was happening to his company.

Another public figure who has spoken out against naked short selling is Jon Stewart.

Regulators have always had the power to stop the manipulation happening in our stock market but have created rules that cater primarily to hedge funds.

“The Game is Rigged” Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game.”

The dilemma here is that institutions are able to get away with the ‘capitalism’ card every time an issue is brought to their attention.

SEC Chairman Gensler has said that the SEC cannot completely interfere with the industry due to a company’s capitalistic rights in America.

Which makes sense through a capitalistic view, however, there should be tougher laws in certain sectors and industries, especially those that have the power to create massive economic downturns.

Regulators in other countries have strengthened the punishment for naked short selling for a reason — the manipulation creates systemic risk.

The question is, how many times will the U.S have to see the collapse of markets and our economy to understand this?

Other countries have recognized these fallacies in their market, maybe it’s time the U.S does the same.

Related: ‘We The Investors’ Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals

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Market News Today - Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.
Market News Today – Regulators Strengthen Punishment for Naked Short Selling.

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Citadel Has a Long History of Market Manipulation

Citadel Market Manipulation
Market News: Citadel and friends are entering the crypto space | Ken Griffin.

Ken Griffin and friends are entering the crypto world very soon — investors are concerned as Citadel has a history of several violations and fines.

EDX Markets plans to bring ‘traditional finance’ to the crypto space, a not so ‘traditional’ space to begin with.

The exchange made up of Citadel, Sequoia, Paradigm, Virtu, Charles Schwab, and Fidelity is debuting in November.

EDX Markets will start trading a limited number of spot, crypto tokens starting with a November trial period, with the official launch in January, per Bloomberg.

Similar to trading equities and options, EDX will allow investors to buy and sell digital assets through their existing broker dealer, rather than an outside venue or directly through a crypto-native exchange. 

“We’re taking some of the best features of traditional finance and bringing it to the digital markets to make it more efficient, and bring that cost saving to investors,” Nazarali said.

Nazarali is the former global head of business development at Citadel Securities.

But as many are aware, these financial institutions have a long history of playing unfair.

Will these sharks taint the crypto space too?

Let’s look at Citadel’s market manipulation history as well as other Citadel violations and fines in the past.

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Citadel Market Manipulation

Citadel Fines and market manipulation.
Citadel violation and fines – market manipulation.

2015

In 2015, an account operated in China by the brokerage arm of US hedge fund Citadel was suspended.

It was the latest casualty of regulators’ hunt for market manipulators and short sellers at the time.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission said that the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges had suspended 24 accounts as part of a probe into high-frequency trading.

The investigation focused on a practice known as “spoofing” in which an investor submits a buy or sell order but then withdraws it before a sale is completed — a practice that can mislead investors by creating the false impression that a stock is trading at a particular price.

Citadel confirmed that one of its accounts managed by Guosen Futures was among those suspended.

2017

SEC Citadel

In 2017 Citadel was fined by the SEC $22.6 million to settle charges of misleading conduct.

The hedge fund misled customers about the way it priced trades.

The SEC found that between 2007 and 2010, Citadel used two algorithms to execute stock trades on customers’ behalf that gave investors a worse price for their trades, even when Citadel knew better prices existed elsewhere.

“This affected millions of retail orders,” said Stephanie Avakian, the acting director of enforcement at the SEC at the time.

Citadel neither admitted nor denied the findings.

2021

Citadel violations and fines.
Citadel violations and fines – market manipulation.

In 2021, Failure-to-Delivers (FTDs) rose dramatically in the period leading up to January 28th, 2021, a phenomenon consistent with increasing short interest by market makers such as Citadel Securities.

FTDs are indictive of naked short selling, which occurs when a short seller does not actually possess the security it is supposed to borrow.

This practice is largely inaccessible to individual investors but accessible to market makers.

At the time, Citadel, Robinhood, and others restricted retail investors from buying ‘meme stocks’ in order to prevent escalating institutional losses.

Citadel eventually lost billions after betting against AMC Entertainment in 2021.

But the entire system needs a refresh – The DTCC waived a total of $9.7 billion of collateral deposit requirements on January 28, 2021, saving brokers, and screwing up retail investors.

2022

The Chicago Tribune published a piece explaining exactly what retail investors have been warning the SEC about.

Citadel Securities’ dark pool dominates a big part of the financial world, accounting for as much as half of U.S. stock market activity.

The Chicago Tribune says this prominent dark pool is run by Chicago Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities and has been targeting small scale retail investors.

And they’re not wrong.

Dark pools are typically involved in payment for order flow (PFOF), where they pay broker firms to receive retail order flow.

Brokers such as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade accept payment for order flow.

But retail investors have been bringing these nefarious practices in the market to light.

Related: Biotech Company Suing Citadel Over Market Manipulation

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‘We The Investors’ Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals

Market News Today - 'We The Investors' Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals
Market News Today – ‘We The Investors’ Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals

‘We The Investors’ is taking Wall Street head on which means retail investors from around the world are now being represented in a way like never before for the first time in history.

More than 1,300 letters have been submitted to the SEC supporting rules proposed in December that represent the biggest changes to equities trading in nearly two decades, according to Reuters.

The collective of retail investors have joined ‘We The Investors’ led by Dave Lauer in efforts to combat Wall Street as a legitimate organization that sprouted from the events of the ‘meme stock’ frenzy in 2021.

Halts in AMC, GameStop, and other stocks during at the time angered many investors which led to the exposure of crime and market injustices on social media.

Retail investors have been pushing for market transparency ever since.

We The Investors has held two online meetings since December with SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who took questions directly from retail investors on the proposals, which include requiring most retail stock orders to be sent to auctions to boost competition.

Other proposed rules call for a new standard for brokers to demonstrate they’ve gotten the best execution for clients on transactions, as well as lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, and stronger disclosure around retail order executions.

But Wall Street, including Ken Griffin’s Citadel is pushing back.

Related: “The Game is Rigged” Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

Wall Street, Citadel, Face Organized Retail Investors

The New York Stock Exchange teamed up with retail broker Charles Schwab Corp and market maker Citadel Securities on Monday to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw two recently proposed rules aimed at revamping how stocks trade.

The move represents a coordinated industry push back against what are potentially the most impactful proposals in the SEC’s biggest attempt to reform stock market rules in nearly 20 years.

“We are deeply concerned that the Commission has simultaneously issued multiple far-reaching proposals that would dramatically overhaul current market structure without adequately assessing the cumulative impact on the market or the potential for unintended consequences,” the companies said in an SEC comment letter.

The SEC in December proposed requiring nearly all retail stock orders to be sent to auctions, as well as a new standard for brokers to show they get the best possible executions for their clients’ orders.

Market News Today – ‘We The Investors’ Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals

The SEC also proposed lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, and more robust retail order execution disclosures.

And now Citadel, Charles Schwab, and the New York Stock Exchange are fighting against these proposals that will help level the playing field for retail investors.

Payment for order flow has annihilated competition and reserved market maker Citadel Securities the right to buy retail orders from brokers such as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade.

During an interview with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the Chairman tells ‘We The Investors‘ that he believes the SEC should have the ‘Best Execution Rule‘, not the self-regulatory organization, FINRA.

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - 'We The Investors' Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals
Market News Today – ‘We The Investors’ Challenges Wall Street on New SEC Proposals

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“The Game is Rigged” Says Ex-Citadel Data Scientist

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Market News Daily: Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

Patrick McConlogue, an ex-Citadel Data Scientist said during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy that the stock market is rigged, claiming he helped design it.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose. How do I know? I helped design the game.”

Not many investors know this, but Patrick actually breaks down how Citadel and other hedge funds were able to make billions back in only weeks from halts.

In this article, I’m going to share his words and knowledge in the industry directly with you.

Share this article to raise awareness of the market injustices ‘experts’ have claimed were never true.

Your voice matters.

Let’s get started.

Ex-Citadel Employee Reveals Rigged Trading Game

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

Patrick McConlogue appeared on Fox Business during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy of 2021 when retail investors created one of the biggest scares in Wall Street history.

GameStop and AMC shareholders were able to create panic on Wall Street by heavily buying shares of the overleveraged shorted stocks.

As share prices soared, short sellers experienced massive losses.

GameStop was able to put Melvin Capital out of business, but Patrick McConlogue says other hedge funds were able to make back billions in losses during the halt.

The halts allowed hedge funds to enter AMC and GameStop knowing shares would plummet, allowing them to capitalize on the deflation of the price.

Patrick says the rules of the game also heavily favor hedge funds, something retail investors have urged SEC Chairman Gary Gensler for years to change.

“I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.”

Below is ex-Citadel Data Scientist Patrick McConlogue’s story.

Related: Citadel, Charles Schwab Team Up to Destroy SEC Proposals

Patrick McConlogue Says the Stock Market is Rigged

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.
Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“The game is not fair and it never has been. Individual investors, even when operating in a swarm, are destined to lose.

How do I know? I helped design the game.

A few years ago, I worked at the massive hedge fund Citadel. The multi-billion dollar fund was caught up in this week’s scandal for bailing out hedge fund Melvin Capital after everyday traders on Robinhood appeared close to liquidating the fund through mass buying of the GameStop stock $GME.

My role at Citadel was as an engineer in Long Term Quantitative Strategies. The entire department, filled with programmers and compliance officers, is dedicated to something called ‘alpha’ which determines the buying strategy of the fund.

I was responsible for innovative proprietary technology that capitalizes on public data faster than any other hedge fund. It’s a classic situation of machines against humans. I respect many of my colleagues, the problem isn’t the people, it’s the rules of the game which heavily favor the funds.

A group of traders on the r/WallStreetBets Reddit thread, now consisting of over 8.6M members, noticed that someone had overly “shorted” the GameStop $GME stock.

They decided it was the perfect time to buy. It was only around $18 per share and easily affordable for the common investor who kept buying, driving up the price of the stock.

As the buying frenzy continued the hedge funds who had taken the opposite position started to hemorrhage money.. BIG money.

The small investors celebrated their success online as news broke that the hedge fund Melvin Capital Management had lost so much on the $GME short position that they had to be bailed out by bigger hedge funds.

While the markets were closed Melvin Capital’s sinking battleship received an emergency infusion of $2.75 billion from Citadel and Point72.”

‘Meme Stock’ Halts

Ex-Citadel employee Patrick McConlogue says the market is rigged.

“On Thursday morning, Robinhood — the commission-free stock trading app used by small investors — suddenly shut down buys on $GME and a few other stocks that were under siege.

Only sell orders went through, reversing the trend, driving the stock prices back down and shoring up the hedge funds’ sinking ships. Remember, when the stock price goes down, the people who hold the “shorts” make money.

This started a chain reaction. Other retail trading platforms like E*Trade and TD AmeriTrade began freezing the stock for individual investors. But hedge funds own supercomputers.

They have direct access to stock markets. While small investors were frozen the hedge funds traded massive positions and quickly earned back the billions in losses from the past few days.

The rules of the game had been exposed, in broad daylight no less.

Robinhood users, when signing up for the popular trading app that offered “free trading” were likely unaware of their role in the hedge funds’ ability to reap huge profits.

The system is broken.”

Patrick McConlogue left Citadel for decentralized finance and co-founded a new technology called Overline that takes the philosophy of DeFi to the extreme.

Not only is Overline unable to freeze any of your assets but it can’t even turn off the exchange; it’s not possible.

You can read Patrick’s full write-up here.

Related: Ken Griffin Thanks Redditors for ‘Meme Stocks’

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - Ex-Citadel data scientist says the market is rigged.
Market News Today – Ex-Citadel Data Scientist says the market is rigged.

For stock market, business news and updates, join the newsletter to receive weekly market news and notifications straight to your inbox.

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Citadel, Charles Schwab Team Up to Destroy SEC Proposals

Citadel, Charles Schwab Team Up to Fight SEC Proposals
Market News Daily: Wall Street Pushes Back Against SEC Stock Market Reforms 2023.

(Reuters) The New York Stock Exchange teamed up with retail broker Charles Schwab Corp and market maker Citadel Securities on Monday to ask the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw two recently proposed rules aimed at revamping how stocks trade.

The move represents a coordinated industry push back against what are potentially the most impactful proposals in the SEC’s biggest attempt to reform stock market rules in nearly 20 years.

“We are deeply concerned that the Commission has simultaneously issued multiple far-reaching proposals that would dramatically overhaul current market structure without adequately assessing the cumulative impact on the market or the potential for unintended consequences,” the companies said in an SEC comment letter.

The SEC in December proposed requiring nearly all retail stock orders to be sent to auctions, as well as a new standard for brokers to show they get the best possible executions for their clients’ orders.

The SEC also proposed lower trading increments and access fees on exchanges, and more robust retail order execution disclosures.

And now Citadel, Charles Schwab, and the New York Stock Exchange are fighting against these proposals that will help level the playing field for retail investors.

Payment for order flow has annihilated competition and reserved market maker Citadel Securities the right to buy retail orders from brokers such as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade.

During an interview with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, the Chairman tells ‘We The Investors‘ that he believes the SEC should have the ‘Best Execution Rule‘, not the self-regulatory organization, FINRA.

Citadel Said in 2004 PFOF Should Be Banned

New York Stock Exchange News | Citadel SEC News Today.
New York Stock Exchange News | Citadel SEC News Today.

Citadel pushed back on the possibility of a payment for order flow (PFOF) ban in June of 2022.

But Citadel said in 2004 that payment for order flow creates conflicts of interest and should be banned, according to an SEC file.

Gary Gensler said there may be a conflict of interest for brokers and that too much power is concentrated in a handful of market makers.

The SEC Chairman plans to reroute retail investors into an automated system that would provide a deep pool of liquidity.

The aim of the proposed rules is to improve market quality and efficiency, by boosting competition for retail stock orders and reducing unnecessary intermediation, SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said.

However, the NYSE, along with Schwab and Citadel Securities, asked the SEC to indefinitely withdraw the auction and best execution proposals, saying they could lead to less market liquidity and create confusing regulatory overlap.

“We believe that this more targeted approach will result in significant benefits for U.S. equity market participants, while meaningfully reducing the risk of negative outcomes for markets and investors, including the risk of firms retreating from being liquidity providers – which would be particularly detrimental to retail investors,” they said.

Related: Global Head of Operations at Citadel Has a Board Seat at DTCC

Market News Published Daily

Market News Today - Citadel News Today.
Market News Today – Wall Street Pushes Back Against SEC Stock Market Reforms | Citadel against SEC Proposals 2023.

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Global Head of Operations at Citadel Has a Board Seat at DTCC

Market News: Conflicts of interest arise - #CitadelScandal
Market News: Conflicts of interest arise – #CitadelScandal

David Inggs is Global Head of Operations at Citadel and is responsible for all products across asset servicing, billing, cash management, clearing, and has a board seat at the DTCC.

The conflict of interest has raised big concerns amongst the retail investor community online as Citadel has been a leading and one of the biggest short sellers in the stock market.

On January 28th, 2021, The DTCC waived $9.7 billion of collateral deposit, limiting institutional losses and limiting retail profits during the ‘meme stock’ frenzy.

The organization allowed several naked shares to flood the market prior to the massive jump in share prices only to help financial institutions in the end.

Citadel and Melvin Capital who shut down last year, lost billions during the event.

Melvin was crippled throughout 2022 from its severe losses in GameStop the year prior.

Had the DTCC not stepped in, the hedge fund would have closed that same year.

“Anyone shorting AMC or GameStop is out of their mind. Wallstreetbets is too powerful, and trying to bet against them right now is just giving them more ammo”, said Jim Cramer.

Since the halt of ‘meme stocks’, the retail community has been uncovering a variety of conflicts of interest too big to ignore.

Who is David Inggs?

David Inggs DTCC

David Inggs is Global Head of Operations at Citadel and is responsible for all products across asset servicing, billing, cash management, clearing, Collateral Management, Reconciliation & Control and Settlements and is on the Board of Directors at the DTCC.

Prior to joining Citadel, David served as Chief Operations Officer of E*TRADE where he led operations globally across Trade Execution, Global Clearing, Middle Office and Shared Services, among other functions.

David spent most of his career at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Managing Director and held numerous leadership positions over the course of a decade, including Global Head of Clearing Operations and Head of Credit Default Swaps and Equity Derivative Operations.

David also worked at Morgan Stanley, where he served as an Executive Director and Head of Global Bank Loans, in addition to work in credit derivatives and collateral management.

The Global Head of Operations at Citadel has worked for every major criminal financial institution that has been too big to face serious consequences from fraud or market manipulation in the past.

Retail investors say this is market injustice and regulators are part of the problem.

Who is the DTCC?

The DTCC (Depositary Trust and Clearing Corporation) is an American post-trade financial services company providing clearing and settlement services to the financial markets.

The DTCC processes trillions of dollars of securities on a daily basis.

As the centralized clearinghouse for various exchanges and equity platforms, the DTCC settles transactions between buyers and sellers of securities.

The information is recorded by its subsidiary, the NSCC.

After the NSCC has processed and recorded a trade, they provide a report to the brokers and financial professionals involved.

This report includes their net securities positions after the trade and the money that is due to be settled between the two parties.

Clearing corporations such as the DTCC may receive cash from a buyer and securities or futures contracts from a seller.

The clearing corporation then manages the exchange and collects a fee for this service.

The size of the fee is dependent on the size of the transaction, the level of service required, and the type of security being traded. 

Investors who make several transactions in a day can generate significant fees.

This means every naked share that has been created on the ‘short side’ has been recorded and bypassed by the DTCC/NSCC, all for a fee.

Related: Robinhood and Citadel Colluded Night Prior to Trading Restrictions

GameStopped

DTCC GME
DTCC GME Halt – GameStopped.

A press released was published advising of the circumstances that occurred during the time ‘meme stocks’ were halted.

The DTCC waived $9.7 billion of collateral deposit requirement on January 28th, 2021, limiting institutional losses and limiting retail profits.

While AMC Entertainment stock was able to surge months after the January event, GameStop shareholders were strongly affected by the halts.

Retail investors say they feel cheated from regulators who failed to let the short squeeze play out in their favor.

Conflicts of interest such as David Inggs’ involvement with Citadel and the DTCC could be seen as a detriment to market integrity.

In an interview with ‘We The Investors’, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said one proposal they’re looking at this year involves tackling conflicts of interest in the financial markets.

Citadel processes more than 40% of retail’s orders through PFOF (payment for order flow), and with a bias towards short selling, gives the hedge fund an incredible advantage over the common investor.

Should the involvement between both Citadel and the DTCC be considered a crime?

Or is this just a coincidence?

Leave your thoughts below.

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These Hedge Funds Have Been Wiped Out in 2022

Market News: These Hedge Funds have been underperforming all year | Frankenz.com.
Market News: These Hedge Funds have been underperforming all year | Frankenz.com.

Which hedge funds have been underperforming in 2022?

Hedge fund Tiger Global Management is down -54% for the year despite gaining 1.4% in November according to Bloomberg sources.

Persons familiar with the matter say the firm’s long-only fund rose 5.1% in November.

The hedge fund has been on a steady decline all year.

In April, the firm sunk -34% after a bad run that was fueled by massive bets on stocks that have been hammered, such as fast-growing tech companies in the U.S and China.

Tiger Global lost -7% last year, its first annual drop since 2016 and its third total.

Tiger Global Losses 2007-2021 | Sources: Bloomberg News, Curated by Franknez.com.
Tiger Global Losses 2007-2021 | List of Underperforming Hedge Funds – Sources: Bloomberg News, Curated by Franknez.com.

CEO Chase Coleman’s personal wealth dropped by $1.3 billion early this year, according to calculations by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

But Tiger Global isn’t the only hedge fund that is underperforming in 2022.

Here are other hedge funds facing significant losses in 2022.

Which hedge funds have been losing money this year?

List of worst performing hedge funds in 2022 | Franknez.com.
List of worst performing hedge funds in 2022 – Underperforming Hedge Funds | Franknez.com.

Tiger Global Management and Whale Rock Capital Management were among stock-picking hedge funds to report significant losses in 2022.

In September, Tiger Global saw losses as high as -66.5%, per Bloomberg.

Whale Rock widened its losses to -41%.

A report conducted in March concluded that almost 80% of active hedge fund managers are underperforming major indexes such as the S&P 500.

Which hedge funds have been underperforming?

Below is a list of other hedge funds underperforming in 2022.

Other hedge funds include:

  • Light Street Capital Management -50%
  • Maverick Capital -27%
  • Third Point -21.10%

Melvin Capital closed its doors in June of 2022 after it failed to make up for significant losses after it had bet against GameStop.

Anchorage Capital is another hedge fund that closed after betting against another ‘meme stock’, AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.

It closed its doors after 18 years when it could no longer provide their clients with the ability to withdraw their capital.

Hedge funds are heading for one of their worst years of performance on record, leaving investors frustrated with how many managers have failed to offset sharp falls in equity and bond markets,” says Financial Times.

It’s only a matter of time before we begin to see more hedge funds close their doors leading into 2023.

But I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Leave a comment down below.

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