re: Some common myths about the markets that are untrue and/or 99% do not know

quote:

---

Robinhood is the “wild west” way to trade. Nope, all stock exchanges are heavily regulated and play by the same rules. When they halt Meme stocks it is NOT their choice, they are being forced by regulators to do so.

---

Now it’s going to seem like I’m picking on you, and I’m really not. But Robinhood is not an “exchange” - it’s a brokerage company. And yes, there are SEC and other base rules in place which all brokerages must follow. But brokerages are allowed to set their own minimums and other rules above and beyond that regulatory base.

So to your example, yes, if exchange trading is halted on a meme stock or some other equity, at least on the regulated exchanges, no brokerage could execute a trade. But Robinhood and others did institute their own restrictions on both equities and options during that “meme period” - and not all investors, traders or account types were treated equally. While I wasn’t able to execute an options trade on the TOS platform on one of those crazy IV equities during the meme frenzy (when Robinhood, TDA, Fidelity, etc. had put on severe trading restrictions), by placing a call to my TDA account rep and having him review my account type and size and the complexity of my past options trades, he approved it and my trade was executed.

So again, not here to pick on you. But your description was just a bit incomplete.