May 24, 2010
The proposed regulations should, hopefully reduce a certain amount of volatility in the equities markets but until final regulations are issued pertaining to flash trading, the effects will be muted.
Since there is now a significant amount of the daily volume in all exchanges executed by exchange traded funds and hedge funds, one of the visible deficiencies in the regulations is that short selling is not specifically addressed.
At the present time short sellers are allowed to remain anonymous while funds and institutions who take long positions are immediately identified. Until there is equitable treatment for both long buyers and short sellers, the proposed regulations will not accomplish the goal of allowing full oversight by the SEC.