Several proposals to curb short-selling have been discussed over the past year. I think most people were betting that a modified uptick rule was going to be passed. The issue really was whether some sort of circuit breaker was also going to be used to trigger the rule. The SEC has apparently made up its mind.

According to Bloomberg, the SEC's five commissioners will likely vote (though not unanimously) to restrict short sales of a company's shares once it falls 10 percent. That individual stock circuit breaker would trigger a modified uptick rule that would allow traders to execute short sales for the stock at a price above the market's best bid.

This approach has been on the table. But it was hardly the ideal choice for many companies. They wanted permanent curbs. Several lawmakers also favored the return of an uptick rule on a permanent basis. This seems to steer a middle ground between Wall Street and Main Street. But in the end you can't please everyone. Some think that as the market sags toward the threshold, people will rush to lock in short best, which could drag markets at the worst possible time. In any case, the rule will not be onerous to implement, which weighed in the SEC decision making. Most Wall Street firms anyway are accustomed to rule changes when it comes to short sales.

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article

Related Articles:
Short selling curbs to be delayed?
Uptick rule: Who's for it? Who's against it?
Time to bring back the uptick rule?