Move along or start your own broker-dealer.
How does that protect me from people that are seemingly able to cheat at will at the highest level of the system?
Even if I start a broker dealer I still have to deal with DTCC.
If you were familiar with what happened with Gamestop, you'd remember that DTCC came to Robinhood with new capital requirements that have never been publicly disclosed.
Multiple news articles brag up how DTCC saved us from "mania" by doing that, yet they just can't seem to cover many specific facts.
I'd love to see some public disclosure regarding what requirements were enforced on Melvin/Citadel vs. Robin Hood. Especially related to the long and short interest held by each. Keep in mind that the whole short squeeze could have been avoided if capital requirements had been raised for Melvin/Citadel as they became more and more short*
Let's say I actually have my own broker-dealer...
Let's say, some connected party (let's call them Citadel, for example) has enough influence over DTCC (like maybe having a member of their staff on it's board of directors) that in the middle of a short squeeze they can step in and change capital requirements for one specific broker in a way that just happens to benefit Citadel.
What was the point of starting my own broker dealer again?
What happened with Gamestop was so shady that you actually had Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the same page. That doesn't happen often.
I think all this crap could be fixed, but one has to:
1) Start their own replacement for DTCC
2) Start their own exchange.
The rules would be simple:
A turn based system that essentially executes the opening auction rules every 5 min, with real settlement between turns.
Do that and you have killed payment for order flow, special settlement periods and rules for "market makers", no PDT, etc.
*The current system has rules that allow a stupid amount for risk to be created by short sellers. I believe that's what Peterffy was talking about when he referred to a potential collapse of the system.