SEC Seeks Fast Access to Data on Big Trades

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in an effort to monitor major investors more easily, proposed Wednesday new rules giving it speedier access to data on big stock trades.

The proposal to set up a reporting system for big stock traders was backed unanimously at an open meeting of the SEC’s four commissioners. One seat is vacant. The move was expected.

The plan is intended to allow the SEC to reconstruct--more cheaply and quickly--market activity and study the cause and effect of big price swings in the market.

After the crash in October, 1987, it took the SEC staff months to reconstruct the trades, as staffers literally crawled across yards of computer printouts.

SEC Chairman Richard C. Breeden conceded that the agency’s attempts to piece together trading then, as well as after the October, 1989, stock plunge, “were hampered and prolonged.”

The plan would also help the agency pursue any attempts at market manipulation, particularly cases of insider trading and “front running.” In the latter, a brokerage house buys or sells a security before a customer’s order, using the knowledge of the customer’s intentions to its own advantage.

The plan is being offered for 90 days of public comment. Typically, SEC staffers then draw up final recommendations for the commissioners’ approval.

The reporting system would help implement a 1990 law intended to give more stability to the stock market and restore investor confidence after the 1987 crash.

A big trader would be defined as one whose total trading during a 24-hour period is either 100,000 shares or worth $4 million.