Regulation SHO


REG SHO Overview

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted amendments to Regulation SHO Most recently, the SEC introduced a short sale-related circuit breaker that, when triggered, will impose a restriction on prices at which securities may be sold short. View the final rule.

Circuit Breaker List

The SEC adopted amendments to Regulation SHO with a compliance date of February 28, 2011. Among the rule changes, the SEC introduced Rule 201 (Alternative Uptick Rule), a short sale-related circuit breaker that when triggered, will impose a restriction on prices at which securities may be sold short. The SEC also issued guidance for broker-dealers wishing to mark certain qualifying orders "short exempt." For more details, refer to the final rule.

Pilot List

Nasdaq maintained the list for the Reg SHO price test change until October 4, 2007. Effective October 5, 2007, broker-dealers are no longer permitted to mark sales “short exempt”; instead all short sales must be marked "short".

Threshold Security List

Effective January 3, 2005, new short sale rules were implemented, including a uniform “locate” requirement for short sales in all equity securities and additional requirements for broker-dealers trading securities in which a substantial amount of failures to deliver have occurred (Regulation SHO Threshold Securities). Please refer to Head Trader Alerts #2004-108, #2004-155, #2004-166 and #2004-168.

The SEC amended Regulation SHO to eliminate the “grandfather provision” effective October 15, 2007. Please refer to Regulatory Alert #2007-086 for complete details.

As announced in General News Item #2005-005, Wednesday, April 13, 2005, was the last day that Nasdaq posted a separate addendum to the Threshold List in order to identify the additional OTC securities subject to Regulation SHO.

View the Threshold List

Contact Information

For Investors:

For Nasdaq Market Participants and FINRA Members:

  • Please visit the FINRA Website for comprehensive contact information.
  • Contact your Global Trading and Market Services Representative at +1 800 846 0477.

For Issuers:

  • Questions regarding Nasdaq-listed stocks should be directed to your Nasdaq Market Intelligence Desk Director.
  • Questions regarding an OTCBB or Pink Sheet stock, should be emailed to regtips@finra.org.