May 11, 2009
I am a 20 year veteran of the hedge fund business. I ran my own long/short equity hedge fund for 12 years and for the last 8 have been managing a fund of funds that invests in long/short equity managers. I have 2 suggestions:
1. Please reinstate the uptick rule ASAP. This elegant rule prevents potential abuses that can occur through short selling while allowing short-sellers to provide liquidity to the markets. We operated with it successfully for years and it was short-sighted for it to be removed. I find it hard to believe that the algorithmic traders can not adjust their models to cope with this change.
2. Apply the uptick rule to ETF's as well as individual stocks. If you do not, different forms of abuse will continue. This application should serve the added purpose of ridding the markets of these levered ETF products which, in my mind, have no benefit other than bringing volatility to our markets.