In a Hurry to Sell Short?

For short sellers in a hurry, the good news is you won’t have to wait for an uptick anymore to sell short. The SEC has removed for good a longstanding obstacle to the short sale of stocks, eliminating the “tick” test. On the other hand, you’d better be ready to settle that short sale, as there will be no more grandfathering of positions that don’t settle on time. They will be closed out if not settled “within 13 consecutive settlement days,” the SEC announced in an attempt to prevent long-term “fails” to settle short trades. In final revisions to Rules 200 and 203 of Regulation SHO, the SEC pledged to “further reduce fails to deliver in certain equity securities by eliminating the grandfather provision,” according to the June 13 SEC release.