August 31, 2009
I agree with the uptick rule that requires a short sale price to be above the current highest bid. It seems that is technologically possible, where the traditional uptick rule would slow things down too much.
I disagree with the circuit-breaker idea, and instead think there should be a simple way to stop an illegal bear raid by allowing the company whose stock is being driven down, to send to the SEC an electronic copy of false information being disseminated by parties interested in driving the price down. The receipt of this information by the SEC would put a temorary hold on the parties publishing it from trading in that stock. When the company whose stock is affected proves the disseminated information false, the parties publishing that false information should be banned permanently from dealing in that stock. I think that after one or two incidents like this the bear raids would stop. (though perhaps CNBC and Bloomberg TV would be out of business also)