May 13, 2009
The absence of this rule allows large funds and investors to short stocks without any system of restraint. They can continually attack the price of a stock, driving it down as far as they can, before covering their shorts. It allows them to pre-determine the success of their investment.
Simply put: those with the resources to do so are effectively determining the price at which they will invest in a stock Is this really how the system was intended to work? Retail investors like myself have no ability to combat this kind of behavior. Without the uptick rule, it raises the question as to whether we should be investing at all. Does the government really want all retail investors driven out of the market?
This is a simple, effective tool for limiting the price manipulation of these equities. I implore you to reinstate the uptick rule.