....i talked directly to regulators about this same exact question once....what i was told was that basically PRE and POST market trades are basically "buyer beware" and that you do not have to worry about shorting on a downtick or marking the order short ect.....it actually makes sense since 1) pre/post market hours ar voluntary to any firm/ecn/market maker 2) the bid and ask are optional.....ever notice that if you hit certain bids/ask with the price they are quoting they may or may not execute them?
You don't have to worry about the uptick rule for NASDAQ stocks, but for listed stocks you do. I have never noticed a non-firm bid or ask quote from an open ECN in pre-market. What quotes aren't firm in pre or post-market?
RE: realise... neither. american born and bred. sometimes do that from previous time corresponding with uk outfits, to save them time of having to 'correct' the american's writing....