What is the SEC Rule 201 short sale restriction?

Asked by: Prof. Sadye Cole  |  Last update: October 18, 2025
Score: 4.8/5 (35 votes)

Rule 201 generally requires trading centers to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent the execution or display of a short sale at an impermissible price when a stock has triggered a circuit breaker by experiencing a price decline of at least 10 percent ...

What is the rule 201 for short selling?

Rule 201 is triggered for a stock when the stock's price declines by 10% or more from the previous day's close. When a stock is triggered, traders can only execute short sales of the stock above the National Best Bid (NBB) price.

What is the short sale restriction rule?

What Is Short Sale Restriction? An Initial Look. The short sale rule prevents traders from short selling a stock when it's experiencing significant downward momentum. The SSR, also known as the uptick rule, requires that the short sale order is placed at a price higher than the current highest bid.

What is the rule 201 in the NYSE?

The 2010 alternative uptick rule (Rule 201) allows investors to exit long positions before short selling occurs. The rule is triggered when a stock price falls at least 10% in one day. At that point, short selling is permitted if the price is above the current best bid.

What is the SEC rule on short selling?

Starting January 2, 2025, managers holding short positions exceeding $10 million or 2.5% of a company's shares must file Form SHO on a monthly basis. This measure is designed to increase transparency in short selling, helping regulators and investors better detect market manipulation and mitigate systemic risks.

Short Sale Restriction (SSR)

40 related questions found

What are the restrictions on short selling?

Under the short-sale rule, shorts could only be placed at a price above the most recent trade, i.e., an uptick in the share's price. With only limited exceptions, the rule forbade trading shorts on a downtick in share price. The rule was also known as the uptick rule, "plus tick rule," and tick-test rule."

What is the limit on short sale?

Short selling limits maximum gains while potentially exposing the investor to unlimited losses. A stock can only fall to zero, resulting in a 100% loss for a long investor, but there is no limit to how high a stock can theoretically go.

What is SEC 201?

Under section 201, domestic industries seriously injured or threatened with serious injury by increased imports may petition the USITC for import relief.

What is the Federal Rule 201?

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 201, a court may take judicial notice of a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute because it: is generally known within the trial court's territorial jurisdiction; or can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.

What is short sell exempt?

A broker-dealer may mark a short sale order as “short exempt” if the broker-dealer has a reasonable basis to believe that the short sale order is by a market maker to offset a customer odd-lot order or to liquidate an odd-lot position that changes such broker-dealer's position by no more than a 100-share lot.

How to tell if a stock is short sale restricted?

How do I know if a Stock Has the Short Sell Restriction or SSR. With most trading platforms, you will see a little "SSR" message on the top of the level 2 montage window on a stock that has the short sell restriction enabled.

Can a seller back out of a short sale?

Sellers Who Cancel Short Sale Contracts

In California, buyer's agents generally attach a "short sale addendum" to the purchase contract. The short sale addendum specifies that the entire transaction is contingent upon lender approval.

What is the 30 day short sale rule?

Under the wash sale rule, your loss is disallowed for tax purposes if you sell stock or other securities at a loss and then buy substantially identical stock or securities within 30 days before or 30 days after the sale.

How long can you short sell a stock?

This is the opposite of a traditional long position where an investor hopes to profit from rising prices. There is no time limit on how long a short sale can or cannot be open for. Thus, a short sale is, by default, held indefinitely.

Why is short selling illegal?

Key reasons for its prohibition or restriction in some jurisdictions include concerns about market stability and the prevention of market manipulation. Short selling can amplify market downturns, particularly during periods of economic stress, leading to panic selling and destabilizing financial markets.

How much money do I need to short sell?

To make the trade, you'll need cash or stock equity in that margin account as collateral, equivalent to at least 50% of the short position's value, according to Federal Reserve requirements. If this is satisfied, you'll be able to enter a short-sell order in your brokerage account.

What is the SEC rule 201 for short sales?

Rule 201 generally requires trading centers to establish, maintain, and enforce written policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to prevent the execution or display of a short sale at an impermissible price when a stock has triggered a circuit breaker by experiencing a price decline of at least 10 percent ...

What US code is 201?

201 - Bribery of public officials and witnesses. View the most recent version of this document on this website.

What is the SEC rule 202 A?

In 2011, pursuant to a directive in the Dodd-Frank Act,1 the SEC adopted a rule, codified as the Advisers Act Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1, more commonly referred to as the “Family Office Rule,” which effectively excludes family offices from the broad definition of “investment adviser.” The adoption of the Family Office Rule ...

What is the meaning of section 201?

IPC Section 201 - Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender | Devgan.in.

What are section 201 duties?

Section 201, as referred to in shorthand, is a section of the Trade Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-618) that permits the President to grant temporary import relief, by raising import duties or imposing nontariff barriers on goods entering the United States that injure or threaten to injure domestic industries producing like ...

What is status 201 created?

What does 201 Created mean? The 201 Created status code means that the request was successfully fulfilled and resulted in one or possibly multiple new resources being created.

What are the new SEC rules for short selling?

The new rule and form will require institutional investment managers that meet certain thresholds to report short position data and short activity data relating to equity securities for accounts over which the institutional investment manager has investment discretion, including its own account.

How does short sale restriction work?

The Short Sale Rule is an SEC rule that governs when and how stocks can be sold short. Briefly, the rule dictates that once a stock falls more than 10% from its previous close, that stock cannot be shorted at the bid price for the remainder of the current trading session or for the entirety of the next session.