LEVEL: BEGINNER
The Securities and Exchange Commission was founded in 1934 in response to the Great Depression and the financial crisis that began on Wall Street due to heavy speculation, a lack of reliable information, and heavy leveraging. The SEC was designed to ensure that all investors have available to them honest and trustworthy information, and it remains the cornerstone of any investor’s research. In 1984, the SEC updated its information system with EDGAR, which stands for “the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System.” Designed to allow electronic access to all SEC data, it predates the Web and has remained a cornerstone of all investors looking to join Wall Street from far away.