Federal commodities regulators are preparing to take their first big step toward reining in high-speed computer trading and subjecting it to tougher oversight.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is completing a road map it will use to develop rules aimed at taming the practice of computer trading, which has led to market disruptions such as Thursday's failure at Nasdaq OMX Group and the 2010 "flash crash" that sent markets plunging in a matter of minutes.