Quote from Mecro:
In my opinion, the uptick rule only exists nowdays for manipulation and abuses of MMs and specialists, as well some of the smart money players which can easily go around it. I'm sure large retail clients do not like having their 20k short order wait when there is a buyer 5 cents below. Sometimes a buyer and a short seller get deadlocked in a penny range. Not efficient, not liquid and simply stupid.
I do thhink that the bullet use of short scalpers got completely out of control. But the real idea of these tools was to get short when you want to get short and not wait as your order sits and waits for an uptick while the price drops. I think it is laughable that the Russian stockmarket functioned with great success without specialists or MMs or an idiotic uptick rule even in its fragile state, yet we have one of the oldest exchanges that still uses inferior trading practices in the country with the most advanced financial and trading technology. It is a scam, plain and simple.
If some piece of crap low volume NYSE stock gets hammered by a bear raider, well tough shit. There is always an opportunity for a big player to come in and buy the stock up when the price gets low and rip the short. If the price keeps dropping, eventually it will become a bargain above all bargains so why would not someone come in and buy even for true investment reasons.
Thats how it's done in other markets. Thats why they are more volatile and more liquid.
This is all common sense, so the only reason SEC still enforces the uptick rule is to protect profits of its friends that cannot trade NYSE & Naz like real markets.