May 5, 2009
As a retail investor, I feel as though I am at a huge disadvantage due to the naked short selling and lack of the uptick rule in the trading of equities. I feel fear and anxiety due to the relentless selling of securities, and it happens before I can protect any profit I may have in an investment. I am subject to the manipulations of the short sellers and feel helpless to stop the losses I experience. In this current debacle of a bear market, I saw $350,000 of my hard-earned money disappear, about one third of my total investment, when my stocks plunged. I sold my mutual funds at that point and put the money into a municipal bond fund with a guaranteed return of 4% before I could lose anymore. I have since been reinvesting the funds in individual stocks, managing the portfolio myself, no longer trusting mutual fund management, but I still can't get a trade in fast enough to stop a plunge when the short sellers get started. I sense here an opportunity to restore a sense of optimism in the stock market once again because the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering reinstating the uptick rule and the halt of the naked short selling. I am not in favor of the modified uptick rule because it will not be effective to place it on a national best bid. That does not give me enough protection, and a stock can spiral downward many points before the uptick rule goes into effect. If the uptick rule is not reinstated in its unmodified state and if naked short selling is not banned, I would be foolhardy to continue to invest money in the market and will liquidate my holdings. I can't be in a market where I have no control.