is the act that requires registration of new securities and the issuance of a prospec- tus that details the financial prospects of the firm. SEC approval of a prospectus or financial report does not mean that it views the security as a good investment. The SEC cares only that the relevant facts are disclosed; investors make their own evaluations of the securitys value. The 1934 act established the Securities and Exchange Commission to administer the provisions of the 1933 act. It also extended the disclosure principle of the 1933 act by re- quiring firms with issued securities on secondary exchanges to periodically disclose rele- vant financial information. The 1934 act also empowered the SEC to register and regulate securities exchanges, OTC trading, brokers, and dealers. The act thus established the SEC as the administrative agency responsible for broad oversight of the securities markets. The SEC, however, shares oversight with other regulatory agencies. For example, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulates trading in futures markets, whereas the Federal Reserve has broad responsibility for the health of the U.S. financial system. In this role the Fed sets margin requirements on stocks and stock options and regulates bank lending to securities markets participants. I. Introduction 3. How Securities Are Traded The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2001           94 PART I Introduction     The Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 established the Securities Investor Pro- tection Corporation (SIPC) to protect investors from losses if their brokerage firms fail. Just as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provides federal protection to depositors against bank failure, the SIPC ensures that investors will receive securities held for their ac- count in street name by the failed brokerage firm up to a limit of $500,000 per customer. The SIPC is financed by levying an "insurance premium" on its participating, or member, brokerage firms. It also may borrow money from the SEC if its own funds are insufficient to meet its obligations. In addition to federal regulations, security trading is subject to state laws. The laws pro- viding for state regulation of securities are known generally as blue sky laws, because they attempt to prevent the false promotion and sale of securities representing nothing more than blue sky. State laws to outlaw fraud in security sales were instituted before the Securities Act of 1933. Varying state laws were somewhat unified when many states adopted portions of the Uniform Securities Act, which was proposed in 1956.   Self-Regulation and Circuit Breakers