Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched a new statistics and data visualization page that includes statistics and interactive graphics on key elements of the capital markets, based on the following categories:

1. Capital Formation: Historical data on initial public offerings, follow-on registered offerings, bond offerings, asset-backed securities issuances, commercial mortgage-backed securities issuances, Regulation A offerings, Regulation Crowdfunding offerings, and Regulation D offerings. 
2. Market Participants: Historical information concerning reporting issuers, municipal advisors, transfer agents, security-based swap dealers, nationally recognized statistical rating organizations, registered investment companies, money market funds and investment advisers, registered funds, and private funds.
3. Market Activity: An overview of market activity; metrics by exchange and corporate stocks; and information concerning exchange traded products, quote life data series – conditional frequency, and quote life data series – hazard and survivor.
4. Investors: Historical data on U.S. households qualifying under “accredited investor” financial criteria and U.S. households participating in capital markets.

The webpage provides statistics presented in time series charts to show market trends, pie charts to show distribution across different categories, and heat maps to show geographic distributions, according to the SEC’s press release. The visuals are interactive, allowing the public to explore the information in which they are interested. 

The webpage includes:

• Data Visualizations: Interactive graphics based on statistics
• Statistics Table: Fundamental statistics regularly updated with the most recently available data
• Statistics Guide: Description, calculation method, and data source for each metric
• Statistics Download: All available statistics in the table and data visualizations
• Related Materials: Research and reports, regulatory background, investor bulletins, or additional resources

According to SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins, the new webpage “is another step toward making [the SEC’s] work more accessible” and “put[ting] vital information into the hands of investors, market participants, and the public.”