The Securities and Exchange Commission is assessing the causes of sharp price swings in exchange-traded products and stocks on August 24.

Intensifying global growth fears sparked steep losses in markets around the world that day. Price swings triggered nearly 1,300 trading halts, which mostly affected exchange-traded funds, a product that holds a basket of assets like a mutual fund but trades on an exchange like a stock. Some of those funds traded at sharp discounts to their underlying holdings.