February 20, 2010
Establishing a modified uptick rule or reinstating the former uptick rule would level the playing field for long and short investors. Loss of confidence can lead to panic selling, which may be further exacerbated by naked short selling. As a result, the prices of securitiesmay artificially and unnecessarily decline well below the price level that would have resulted from the normal price discovery process. In addition tighter restrictions are needed on fails to deliver as such event if allowed to continue create phantom shares of a security and artifically disrupt the capital structure of a firm. There should be severe fines and pentallys for any who make this type of disruptive practice in any given security.