From a post on the Lynas thread re the share price plunge of Lynas shares on Wednesday the 27/6/12
HI Andybee, Thank you for lodging your complaint with ASIC I would also encourage you most strongly to make an appointment with your local MP and raise the issue with him/her. You are fortunate that you are retired and can keep an eagle eye on your stocks however many here are still in the workforce and cannot do so. These people rely on stop losses to protect their capital. Many would have had a very big surprise when they returned home on Wednesday night to see that their stocks were sold. Even if you use automatic stop losses very carefully the brokers you use know where the majority of stops are sitting. It is very easy to walk share prices up and down to pass these stops or to use probability theory to make a best guess as to where these stops are most likely to be concentrated. Basically what I am saying is that all of us amateur traders using technical tools are now seriously outgunned by the professionals with their "bots"" and high frequency trading.
The share market today is a place where the ordinary retail investor can be likened to the American Indian with bows and arrows fighting the US army with their repeating rifles. Basically a no win situation.
From history you know what happened to the American Indian they were forced on to unproductive land called reservations and if anything of value was found on that land such as gold or oil they were moved on yet again by the US Government.
Are ordinary retail investors going to be forced from investing and trading on the ASX?
Certainly if ASIC and our lawmakers do not act in a timely fashion then that may well be the result. The fastest growing area of superannuation investment is into SMSFs because returns are generally superior to that achieved by so called "professional fund managers"
If many of those with SMSFs decide that the sharemarket is not the place to invest then literally $Billions of dollars will be taken out of our market. Is that what the ASX and ASIC want? It will make it increasingly difficult to raise funds from retail for IPOs and Australia will become even more beholden to overseas investors for capital formation to grow our real economy. BTW I am a trustee of a SMSF This is a personal opinion only
