Investor Alerts and Bulletins

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this updated bulletin to educate investors about how fees you pay for investment services and products can impact the value of your portfolio.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to help investors better understand the designations financial professionals use.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about cash sweep programs, which broker-dealers and investment advisers (“investment firms”) offer to manage uninvested cash held in accounts by their investment firms. This Investor Bulletin describes these cash sweep programs and suggests questions you may want to ask yourself to help you decide how to best manage the uninvested cash in your investment account.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about lost and stolen securities and the Commission’s Lost and Stolen Securities Program (“LSSP”), a database for securities certificates reported lost, stolen, missing, or counterfeit.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the National Futures Association (NFA), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with information for World Investor Week 2024, a global campaign promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to raise awareness about…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) urges investors to weigh carefully the potential risks and benefits if considering any investment product that provides exposure to the price of bitcoin or ether. Investors should understand that bitcoin and ether are highly speculative investments. This includes when exposure is gained through an exchange-traded product (ETP). Investors should consider the volatility of the price of bitcoin and ether.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the National Futures Association (NFA), the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with information about the three themes of World Investor Week 2023, a global campaign promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to raise awareness about the importance of investor…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide information on the ways you might be able to hold your securities.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) are issuing two Investor Bulletins to help educate investors about SIPC protection for brokerage accounts. The first Investor Bulletin (“SIPC Basics”) will provide investors with an overview of how SIPC protection works and what it protects, and the second Investor Bulletin (“Filing a SIPC claim”) will provide investors with an overview for how to file a SIPC claim.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) are issuing two Investor Bulletins to help educate investors about SIPC protection for brokerage accounts. The first Investor Bulletin (“SIPC Basics”) will provide investors with an overview of how SIPC protection works and what it protects, and the second Investor Bulletin (“Filing a SIPC claim”) will provide investors with an overview for how to file a SIPC claim.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to provide investors with important steps to take regarding their investment accounts if they become victims of identity theft or a data breach.

For World Investor Week 2022, investors, investment professionals, teachers, parents, researchers, and others are encouraged to make a special effort to promote investor resilience and sustainable finance.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about investment performance claims.  If you are in the market for an investment, you will likely come across sales and marketing materials that describe an investment’s performance.  You should know that performance information can be presented in many different ways.  Before making a decision, always make sure you understand how any performance claim is calculated and presented – and whether or not the claim is reliable and applies to your particular circumstances.…

As a teacher, you have a number of choices to make when investing for retirement.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about the arbitration and mediation processes involving a customer dispute with a broker-dealer. 

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about extended-hours trading for stocks. Extended-hours trading, refers to trading that occurs outside of regular trading hours. Regular trading hours for stocks traded on exchanges and certain other markets are from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Extended-hours trading sessions may occur before or after regular trading hours. The duration of extended-hours trading sessions varies between markets and trading venues. Investors should contact their brokerage firms to…

One of the best ways to build wealth is by saving and investing over a long period of time. The earlier you start, the easier it is for your money to grow. Opening your first investment account is a key step in beginning your investment journey. As a college student, you may receive offers to open an investment account. These offers could come from your bank, from someone you or your family know, or even at a campus coffee shop. They also can include incentives, like free stock or cash to invest, as a way to entice you to sign up.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help investors ask informed questions about the interest a brokerage firm charges for margin accounts.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and the Division of Enforcement’s Retail Strategy Task Force are issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about risks with accounts that pay interest on crypto asset deposits.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about the SEC’s rules and regulations related to trading suspensions. The federal securities laws generally allow the SEC to suspend trading in any stock for up to ten business days. This bulletin answers some of the typical questions we receive from investors about trading suspensions. A list of companies whose stock is currently subject to an SEC trading suspension, or which previously has been subject to an SEC trading suspension, may be found here.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the National Futures Association (NFA), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to highlight some key topics for World Investor Week 2021, a global campaign to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection.  From October 4-10, 2021, investors, investment professionals, teachers, parents, researchers, and others are encouraged to make a special…

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help you understand what to expect when opening a brokerage account, including what information you will need to provide, what decisions you will be asked to make, and what questions you should ask your broker.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about the use of margin accounts to buy securities and their related risks.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors regarding the margin rules that apply to day trading in a Regulation T margin account and to respond to a number of frequently asked questions we have received.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about investing in fractional shares. What are Fractional Shares? A fractional share is when you own less than one full share of a stock or other security.