April 28, 2009
I believe the removal of the uptick rule during the summer of 2007 has hurt the individual long investor and benefited short sellers and hedge funds. Naked short selling is easily done since those shorting stocks have 13 days to cover vs. 3 days for longs.
Individual stocks like Energy Conversion Devices ENER have been pounded by naked short sellers hurting the individual investor and benefiting the hedge funds.
The uptick rule should be reinstated and all trades should have only 3 days to cover. This would help to bring the market back to a level playing field.