May 11, 2009
I am a small investor trying to compete with the hedge funds in the stock market. As you are probably guessing it is not easy. Since the Uptick rule was eliminated two years ago, we investors have been so disadvantaged. The simple reason is as you probably know that investors will sell first and discuss later when there is a rumor of bad news on the interested stock even if the news is not true. This creates unfairly advantages for the shorts. As they simply throw out a bad rumor and short the stock. Since controlling the rumors is almost impossible, without the Uptick rule, the shorts can use rumor to manipulate the stocks down without difficulty.
Reinstate the Upstick rules is a sensible way to stabilize the stock market. Please add my name on your list wishing the Uptick rule with 5-cent or more tick test. The Uptick rule should be applicable all the time (not when a stock is down 10% or more) on market-wide. It should be kept permanent with no exception for any investor or groups of investors.
Sincerely Yours,
Chuc Nguyen