December 12, 2008
Dear Sir,
I am an individual investor. I wish to state my support for the suggestion by Mr. Charles Schwab that the uptick rule be reinstated quickly, though sadly this may be closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
It seems that the investigation performed before the uptick rule was rescinded was insufficient, particularly it covered a period of relative market stability and studied the side effects of the rule rather than the primary effect of the rule which would only be seen in a sharply down market such as we have just suffered. It is unfortunate that the SEC acted so hastily. The pilot study should have covered a period of years not months and action should not have been taken until the pilot study included data from a period of high volatility for which the rule was intended, and when the rule might moderate market volatility and discourage market manipulation.
No reply is necessary.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Brown