Depends on your broker and account type. I can't short in my schwab 401k or etrade accounts, but Interactive Brokers let me short a couple thousand shares above $9, sporadically as most of the time they reported "Shares unavailable for shorting". None of my brokers allow purchase of OTC stocks with margin. I'm of the camp that believes the shorting and manipulation games won't change much on the NASDAQ ... but retail will be able to use leverage on NASDAQ shares and thereby many will blow up their accounts on the 50% corrections, or shorting a 200% spike.