Hedge funds and other large investors would have to disclose significantly more information about the stocks they short under a new plan from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg News reported. Institutional money managers would have to submit monthly filings with details on large equity short positions, according to a proposal released by the agency Friday. Investors would also have to disclose some daily activity affecting their bets. While most of these details would remain confidential, the SEC wants to make some aggregate data about large positions in specific securities available to the public. Short selling has been a staple of U.S. equities markets for years, but it’s become a political lightening rod following the meme-stock mania that began in January 2021 when retail traders banded together via online message boards and bought up stocks like GameStop Corp. that they said hedge funds were betting against. Separately, the Justice Department has launched an expansive criminal investigation into relationships between investors involved in the sales and research firms. The plan is the latest effort by SEC Chair Gary Gensler to collect more data from hedge funds and other large investors about their trading activities. It also comes after the agency earlier this month began considering rules to shorten how long it takes to settle stock trades, another action in response to last year’s wild stock trading.
