The Commission called for a study of these rules when it adopted a new regulatory framework governing short selling of securities, Regulation SHO, in June 2004. The staff is seeking input on whether market quality would change without these short sale rules, whether the alternative Uniform Bid Test described in the proposing release is appropriate, and whether that rule should be extended to smaller stocks.
To facilitate the study of these questions, the Commission has designed a pilot program that suspends the "tick" test and the Nasdaq Bid Test for a stratified sample of stocks (see http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/34-50104.htm and http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/34-50747.htm).
The Commission's staff has arranged for the appropriate self regulatory organizations to make transactional short selling data public on a monthly basis. For more information on the pilot program and the pilot data see http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/shopilot.htm. This web page provides links to the Regulation SHO adopting release, the short selling data, and information on how to view and submit studies on the pilot to the Commission.
