Reinstating the Uptick rule will not stop "forced" selling by institutions, mutual funds and hedge funds. It just doesn't stop any 'real' selling. It definitely makes short selling tougher. As someone mentioned before, there are a couple of options (forgive the pun). One is to buy ATM or slightly OTM puts, or sell single stock futures (no uptick rule exists with futures and it never will, for all money managers need to hedge). One can always short the market using a variety of futures contracts.