May 22, 2009
There is always incentive for investors to buy stock at the best possible price. If they are playing the market long and holding the stock for appreciation, they will seek an entry point at the lowest possible price. The trader who is betting that the market will fall uses this psychology and drives the price lower by making shares available. When both of these forces work in concert, the true valuation of a company can suffer until all those wishing to buy at an artificially created low price get into the market. In addition, it is well known that precipitous price declines instill fear into an investor such that he sells exactly when he should be holding strong. It is no accident that within 30 days of the uptick rule removal, the equity market suffered the greatest decline since the Great Depression. The rule was originally formulated by a master of market manipulation who then was engaged by the government to help restore order.
In these conditions, those with the greatest resources are able to time the market for maximum gain while those that may need funds are stripped of the real value they hold because of market manipulation.
Re-instigating the uptick rule takes away some of the advantage of these larger resource groups and allows the smaller investor to realize more of the value of his investments.
I am perfectly aware that the large capital players in this space want to be able to push prices at will to whatever vantage point they so desire. And this is exactly why they lobbied the SEC for the removal of this rule.
Please reinstate the uptick rule. In addition, there should be regulations requiring actual share to be located prior to shorting shares. There should never be fantom shares in the system because these shares clearly effect the value of a stock and detract from each shareholders true value. There is no excuse for any altered valuation because a shareholder may need to sell shares at any time and would therefore receive less than the correct valuation of his holdings.
Sincerely
Gregory P. Maynes- Individual Investor
If the SEC does not take action against the current market manipulation, I will be exiting these equity markets permanently. I am sure there are many other individual investors that feel similar