That contract is called a CFD and I'm not sure it's legal in the USA, but there are other synthetic forms of shorts that are. They do not have to follow the same rules as short sales such as respecting the uptick rule when it is in effect.
I understand that synthetic shorts exist, I was speaking in the hypothetical that the SEC decides "no more short selling, period."
If there was a rule against short selling, I imagine that synthetic shorts would also have those rules applied to them unless there are enough differences to qualify them as "not short selling".
Though I guess the uptick rule already doesn't apply, so they're already seen as different in some sense?
