May 15, 2009
Aside from any other considerations you may make regarding the current proposed rule changes to the so called Uptick rule, I strongly urge you to go back to the original SHO report issued in September of 2008 and review it again to see whether or not it was sufficient in the first place to have warranted any changes from the original rule.
I contend that it was not. It patently ignored the then common pratices that were common knowledge to even an unsophisticated investor, namely, electronic trading, exchange traded fund trading, and, the most volatile of all, so called Ultra exchange traded fund trading. All of these, amongst other commonly used tools,were never addressed in the SHO report and therefore I contend that the report was insufficient to warrant the changes that were made, that may or may not have led to a substantial part of the market swoons of 2008 and 2009 and the subsequent global correction.
When the evidence that is used to make what may be the cause of the loss of trillions in global value is tainted, the evidence should be rejected and the rule returned to exactly what it was before it was incorrectly amended.
If there are to be rule changes, they should be based on sufficient information that address the actions that truly exist and the analysis should be sufficient to convince,that an understanding of what the rule changes might invite.
The standard of making any rule change should be"sufficient to convince a well informed analyst" that he or she understands what the rules are, what the changes are and what the ramifications are likely to be. That obviously did not exist in the original SHO report and should never have been accepted by the then SEC analyst or management.
It should be set aside now for the same reason. If you wish to change the rules, the evidence should be published and open to public comment and it should be clear to the public that you are doing so at the behest of the Congress of the United States, Finance Committee, Henry Waxman, Chairman. It was not clear that that was the case with the original rule change in September of 2008. It is my belief that had accountability accompanied the changes, the changes would not have been passed. As they say, sunshine is the best disinfectant.