The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, stung by criticism that it lacks the knowledge to analyze the computerized trading that has come to dominate American stock markets, plans to increase the breadth of data received from exchanges and to record orders from origination to execution, Bloomberg News reported today. Gregg Berman, who holds a doctorate in physics from Princeton University, will head the commission’s planned office of analytics and research. Berman’s team will assess how market behavior has been altered after 15 years of regulatory reform and advances in technology that have left trading fragmented across 13 competing exchanges, 10 options markets and dozens of venues operated privately by brokerages. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, spurred into action by the stock rout of May 6, 2010, has made improving data collection a priority.
