The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during the Great Depression to restore public trust in financial markets after the 1929 crash.

Watch former Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler's 'Eras Tour' for the agency's 90th anniversary, a look back on the pivotal moments in the agency's history.

Read a breakdown of the different financial and banking regulatory bodies in the US, including the SEC.

Prior to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 1913 Pujo Committee determined that 180 people were managing more than $22B—a large slice of the entire nation's wealth—and recommended extensive regulations.

Passed in 2010 in the fallout of the Great Recession, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was the most significant financial reform since the Great Depression.

After Bernie Madoff's nearly $65B Ponzi scheme was exposed, the Securities and Exchange Commission was widely criticized for being inattentive and overly lax for not having caught the fraud earlier.

The Dodd-Frank Act increased banks' capital requirements and established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Known as the 'Pecora Hearings,' the widely covered trials following the stock market crash of 1929 generated massive public outrage that forced Congress to impose stricter regulations on Wall Street.

The Social Security System was created to protect Americans from economic disasters like the Great Depression

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal created new government agencies and programs in the wake of the Great Depression.

Explore EDGAR: the Securities and Exchange Commission's free, public database with information and filings from public companies.

Learn about the essential Securities and Exchange Commission filing types, including S-1, 10K, 10Q, and 8-K.

In the SEC vs. Jarkesy ruling of 2024, the Supreme Court overturned the Securities and Exchange Commission's ability to seek civil penalties for securities fraud in-house, which significantly scaled back the agency's enforcement capabilities.

Watch a breakdown of 'The Volcker Rule,' which stopped banks from being able to make trades with client money and is one of the most controversial financial regulations to date.

Commodity trading is regulated by the CFTC to mitigate fraud and risk

Established in 1974, the CFTC regulates these markets (including swaps, futures, and certain types of options) to protect market participants from fraud, ensure fair trading conditions, and generally reduce financial risk.

Joseph Kennedy Sr., President John F. Kennedy's father, became the first chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission in 1934.

When the New York Stock Exchange was started in 1792, traders would meet both outside on the street and in coffee shops to do business.

The Social Security Act was formed to protect retired workers amid the Great Depression

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal created new government agencies and programs in the wake of the Great Depression, including the Social Security Act.

To avoid a total collapse of the housing market, the US government took control of the two leading mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The IMF was created to prevent the currency crises that destabilized the 1930s global economy

Founded in 1945, the IMF monitors exchange rates, promotes financial stability, and provides emergency funding to countries that cannot pay for their imports. It currently has 191 member countries and acts as a lender of last resort for struggling economies.

The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial banks in the US from investment banks

In 1933, the Glass-Steagall Act legally separated commercial banks in the US from investment banks. However, by 1999, the act was repealed—meaning that today’s investment banks are no longer required to be separate from the type of bank where you deposit your paycheck.

The Depression-era Social Security program assigned every US citizen an account number

Many of the Social Security functions we know today are the result of multiple amendments to the Social Security Act that have been passed in the years since the act’s initial creation in 1935. As Social Security as we know it today was being conceptualized, Democrats opted to make it an insurance program rather than a welfare one to assuage Republicans.

Read a profile of Ferdinand Pecora, the lawyer behind the colorful, extensive investigations into the stock market crash of 1929.

An S-1 reveals financial and other details to the public, often for the first time, when filing for an IPO

To file for an IPO, a company must file a registration form called an S-1 or prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. S-1s detail a company's current business model, competitive landscape, and other financial information.

BlackRock played an integral role in the Federal Reserve's response to the Great Recession, managing about $30B of hard-to-sell Bear Stearns assets on behalf of the New York Fed.

The SEC recently approved bitcoin ETFs in landmark investing decision

In January 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission made history when it decided to allow fund issuers to launch bitcoin ETFs. This new class of exchange-traded fund tracks spot bitcoin prices, essentially allowing investors to hold bitcoin without actually having to buy the crypto.

Read more about how the IRS is organized

The Internal Revenue Service is led by a commissioner, who leads the IRS for a five-year term after being selected by the president of the United States. Under the commissioner, the IRS has multiple subdivisions that work on different tax groups, such as the Wage and Investment Division to handle individual wage earners.

The environmental crises of the late 1960s led to the founding of the EPA

Disasters such as the Cuyahoga River fire and the Santa Barbara oil spill prompted Congress and President Nixon to establish the Environmental Protection Agency in December 1970, with the goal of unifying federal efforts to control pollution.

The National Housing Act established the Federal Housing Administration

During the Great Depression, 1,000 homes were foreclosed on per day, and half of the mortgages across the country defaulted. To address this crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Housing Act. It established the Federal Housing Administration, which is still around today and helps protect lenders and buyers.

JFK appointed Roosevelt to chair the President's Commission on the Status of Women

Established in 1961, the commission issued a landmark report in 1963 exposing widespread discrimination against women in employment and government.

One in five Americans has an error on their credit report, according to the Federal Trade Commission

In 2026, four US senators sent letters to two of the nation's major credit bureaus (TransUnion and Experian) after an investigation revealed that they were fixing fewer errors on consumers' credit reports.

Track how much the US government has spent on bailouts.

The Secret Service was originally formed to combat counterfeiting

By the 1860s, an estimated one-third of US currency in circulation was counterfeit. In 1865, the Secret Service was created specifically to combat the country's serious counterfeiting problem, which had led to widespread financial instability. This was partly due to the lack of federal currency standardization in the country at the time.

A 1954 Senate subcommittee investigated the comics industry, believing it was corrupting young readers.

The number of publicly traded companies has decreased in recent years.

In 1996, more than 7,300 companies traded publicly on US stock markets, but that number has recently dropped to 4,300. Economists point to two reasons: First, going public requires full disclosure of operations, exposing it to scrutiny from investors, competitors, and analysts. Second, the IPO process is expensive and time-consuming.

The term 'securities' refers to different types of investments, such as stocks or bonds.

The story of the Wall Street Crash of 1929

The 1920s in the US "roared" with rapid economic growth after the conclusion of World War I. But in October 1929, the bubbly stock markets crashed dramatically, plunging the nation into the decadelong Great Depression.

How is credit reporting regulated in the US?

While the three main credit bureaus and the credit scoring companies aren't government entities, they are subject to certain US government regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Read about why bans on short selling are a controversial policy

Generally, short selling is legal, but regulations often restrict short positions when a stock has experienced a sharp price decline (more than 10% in one day). However, negative feedback loops in times of financial crisis have given short selling a bad reputation. The government has temporarily banned short selling during previous market downturns—like The Great Recession of 2008 and the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic—but experts argue whether those bans actually improved market stability or just distorted prices.

The Federal Reserve fought the Great Recession primarily with quantitative easing and repurchasing agreements.

See a poster that was created to help publicize the Social Security Act.

Electronic trading transformed investing, ushering in a new era for retail investors in which average Americans could research stocks online and then use early platforms like StreetSmart and E-Trade to conduct their transactions

In the early 1990s, stock brokerages knew that online trading would be a great equalizer, creating opportunities for more individuals to buy and sell stocks.

The New Deal shifted economic and social authority to the federal government

Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression expanded federal power through economic regulation and social welfare programs, permanently reshaping federalism by shifting responsibility for financial security to Washington while leaving states to administer many of these programs.

Congress has the power to enact laws related to bankruptcy, thanks to the US Constitution

It has done just that since 1800. This legislation, which outlines the various types of bankruptcy filings, has evolved over time. The most recent iteration is the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, which introduced Chapter 11 filings in an effort to make the process easier for businesses and individuals.

Accredited investors are people or other entities allowed to participate in investments that aren’t registered with the SEC

The accreditation is meant to protect retail investors from potential losses. Financial professionals with Series 7, 65, or 82 licenses qualify, but so do individuals with over $1M in net worth.

Some experts and investors think short selling—a strategy in which investors bet that a stock will drop in value—helps keep the market healthy.

The history of bankruptcy in the US dates back to the signing of the Constitution

In 1787, this founding document gave Congress the right to establish nationwide bankruptcy laws. Legislators took advantage of that power in 1800 when they passed the Bankruptcy Act of 1800, the first comprehensive bankruptcy law at the federal level.

No institution wields more power in US finance than the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US—but opinion polls indicate that most Americans don't know what it does.

The IRS—a division of the US Treasury Department that enforces the Internal Revenue Code, collects taxes, and enforces tax laws—has been a frequent victim of arson over the years.

ETFs were first created as an alternative to mutual funds, combining the diversification benefits of a mutual fund with the ability to trade throughout the day on a stock exchange.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed began a program of quantitative easing

This program injected trillions of dollars of new money into financial markets to stimulate the economy. The move catalyzed an 11-year bull run and was repeated during the pandemic. Experts argue such power could worsen wealth inequality and contribute to bubbles in housing and finance.

Many retail investors exited the stock market after 2008, leading to a drop in individual market participation

That changed thanks to GameStop, federal stimulus checks, and strong corporate results in the first quarter of 2021. This chart plots how much retail investors poured into the market each day, reaching records in early 2023.