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To: Lazlo Pierce who wrote (15706)3/20/1998 3:28:00 PM
From: Don Westermeyer  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 95453
 
David,

You are right about only being able to short on an uptick, but I think the market makers can short on a downtick also.

Don



To: Lazlo Pierce who wrote (15706)3/20/1998 6:58:00 PM
From: Jon Tara  Respond to of 95453
 
This is absolutely incorrect. You CAN short on a downtick on NASDAQ. I have done it.

The trick is that you have to short at a price above the bid.

BTW, on NASDAQ, it's only the bid price that matters. You need a BID uptick, or a price above the bid.

Except when there is panic selling, I can usually get short on any liquid NASDAQ stock on a downtick by placing an order in the spread or at the offer on Datek.

BTW, the old system talked about in that 1996 Forbes article is slowly unraveling. Island (Datek's ECN) and others have started the process, and now NASDAQ itself has proposed changes that, if approved, will get customer limit orders directly represented and crossed.

As I've previously pointed-out on the Datek thread, there is a downside to the proposal - it will expose the public order book to all MMs, which is currently not the case, since there currently is no central NASDAQ limit book.