Glossary
Securities and Exchange Commission
The SEC is the US federal agency that regulates securities markets, writing and enforcing the rules for exchanges, brokers, fund companies and public company disclosure.
Updated September 15, 2026
The Securities and Exchange Commission, usually called the SEC, is the US federal agency that regulates securities markets, meaning the markets where stocks, bonds and other investments are bought and sold. Congress created it in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, after the stock market crash of 1929. It writes and enforces securities rules and oversees stock exchanges, brokers, investment advisers registered with it and fund companies.
Much of its work is disclosure. A company whose shares trade publicly has to file regular financial reports, and anyone can read those filings for free in the SEC's EDGAR database.
The SEC does not judge whether an investment is a sensible purchase, and registering with it does not mean the SEC has approved or vouched for that investment. It cannot protect you from losing money when an investment falls in value.
Related terms
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How this definition was made
- Written by an AI model (Claude) following Teloria's editorial standard.
- Every factual claim was checked by a separate AI fact-check against official US government and regulator sources.
Official sources consulted
- investor.gov · /introduction-investing/investing-basics/role-sec
- usa.gov · /agencies/securities-and-exchange-commission
- investor.gov · /introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/registration-under-securities-act-1933
- sec.gov · /search-filings/edgar-search-assistance/accessing-edgar-data
- investor.gov · /introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-alerts/investor-52