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Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)


Self Description

August 2006: "The mission of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets....Congress created in the CFTC in 1974 as an independent agency with the mandate to regulate commodity futures and option markets in the United States. The agency's mandate has been renewed and expanded several times since then, most recently by the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA). Today, the CFTC assures the economic utility of the futures markets by encouraging their competitiveness and efficiency, ensuring their integrity, protecting market participants against manipulation, abusive trading practices, and fraud, and ensuring the financial integrity of the clearing process. Through effective oversight, the CFTC enables the futures markets to serve the important function of providing a means for price discovery and offsetting price risk."

http://www.cftc.gov/cftc/cftcabout.htm?from=home&page=aboutcftcleft

Third-Party Descriptions

November 2011: 'R. David Gary, a spokesman for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which was MF Global’s main regulator, said the commission planned to review the rule governing segregated accounts at a meeting on Dec. 5. Michael Shore, a spokesman for the CME Group, which owns the main exchanges where MF Global traded, said: “It’s important to understand this was an unprecedented situation for our industry and that the shortfall in total customer segregated funds occurred at the firm level, not at the clearinghouse level.”'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/your-money/in-commodities-world-safe-and-secure-sometimes-isnt.html

December 2010: 'The marketplace as it functions now “adds up to higher costs to all Americans,” said Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates most derivatives. More oversight of the banks in this market is needed, he said.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html

May 2010: "At the hearing, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the regulator would look into reining in some of the high-speed, mathematics-driven trading that aggravated the volatility."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/20/AR2010052005086.html

August 2009: "WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday that the agency wanted to impose new restrictions on so-called speculative traders, not to reduce price volatility but to prevent the energy markets from being dominated by a few huge investment funds."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/business/06speculate.html

June 2009: "WASHINGTON — The new chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will ask Congress on Thursday to impose substantial new costs and restrictions on large banks and other financial institutions that deal in the complex and largely unregulated financial instruments known as derivatives."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/business/04regs.html

July 2008: "The government charged an oil trading firm Thursday with manipulating oil prices in the first complaint to be announced since the regulators began a new investigation into wrongdoings in the energy markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused Optiver Holding, two of its subsidiaries and three employees with manipulation and attempted manipulation of crude oil, heating oil and gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange."

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/24/markets/cftc/index.htm

April 2008: 'One measure of the farming industry’s frustration is the overflow crowd expected at a public forum on Tuesday at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington. Interest is so high that the commission, for the first time ever, will provide a Webcast of the forum, which it says is being held to gather information about whether key markets for hedging the price of crops “are properly performing their risk management and price discovery roles.” The Webcast link is available on the commission’s Web site, www.cftc.gov.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/business/21cnd-commodity.html

October 2007: The propane pricing settlement would resolve a complaint filed last year by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that accused BP of inflating heating and cooking costs in 2004 for millions of Americans by manipulating the price of propane gas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/business/24oil.html

May 2007: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and NASAA issued a warning this month about this type of trading and the potential for fraud. In a typical con, an investor may be persuaded that with just a $5,000 initial outlay, he or she can make tens of thousands of dollars in a few weeks or months. But the $5,000 is never invested in the foreign currency through a legitimate dealer. If you think you are a victim of this type of fraud, call the CFTC toll free at 1-866-366-2382. You can also go to the commission's Web site at http://www.cftc.gov.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602727.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Opponent (past or present) Optiver Holding Organization Jul 27, 2008
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) US Federal Government - Independent Agencies Organization Oct 19, 2006
Organization Executive (past or present) Sheila C. Bair Esq. Person Apr 27, 2010
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Gary G. Gensler MBA Person May 21, 2010
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm Person Aug 29, 2006
Organization Executive (past or present) Prof. I. Michael Greenberger Esq. Person Aug 14, 2006
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Walt Lukken Person Jul 27, 2008
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) Mary L. Schapiro Esq. Person Dec 25, 2008

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Nov 25, 2011 In Commodities World, Safe and Secure Sometimes Isn’t

QUOTE: regulators suspect that MF Global did not keep its clients’ money separate in its chaotic waning days, using some customers’ money, they believe, to meet its own obligations. And if the firm violated the rule requiring segregated accounts, investors say they are now concerned about the viability of commodities trading as it has been conducted in the United States for more than a century.

 New York Times
Dec 11, 2010 A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives

QUOTE: Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk. In theory, this group exists to safeguard the integrity of the multitrillion-dollar market. In practice, it also defends the dominance of the big banks.

 New York Times
May 21, 2010 SEC launches inquiry into market's 'flash crash'

QUOTE: The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking at whether key financial firms broke securities laws when they stopped buying and selling stocks during the "flash crash" on May 6, helping fuel the historic plunge in prices.

 Washington Post
Aug 05, 2009 Regulator Urges More Limits on Speculative Trading

QUOTE: The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Wednesday that the agency wanted to impose new restrictions on so-called speculative traders, not to reduce price volatility but to prevent the energy markets from being dominated by a few huge investment funds.

 New York Times
Jul 15, 2009 Federal Inquiry Looks at Derivatives Data Providers

QUOTE: Federal antitrust officials have opened a broad inquiry into the practices of the companies that serve as clearinghouses for trades of derivative instruments and are looking in particular at whether any companies have improperly used inside information about trades to profit...

 New York Times
Jun 03, 2009 Regulator to Detail Plan for Derivatives

QUOTE: If adopted, Mr. Gensler’s proposal would fundamentally alter the way that derivatives dealers do business by imposing requirements, for example, for capital reserves and collateral — assets that would be forfeited in a default. The rules would impose significant new expenses on derivatives dealers, and could reduce their profitability.

 New York Times
Jul 24, 2008 Traders accused of gaming oil price: Regulators claim firm attempted to 'bang the close' by amassing large positions just before markets closed.

QUOTE: The government charged an oil trading firm Thursday with manipulating oil prices in the first complaint to be announced since the regulators began a new investigation into wrongdoings in the energy markets.

 CNN (Cable News Network)
Jul 18, 2008 Anti-Energy Speculation Bill Stirs Fear

QUOTE: Financial industry executives are mustering on Capitol Hill to head off a Congressional effort to rewrite the rules for the nation’s energy markets, saying it could unsettle already nervous markets and push more energy trading abroad, beyond the reach of domestic regulators.

 New York Times
May 24, 2008 Energy Speculators Draw the Heat (Market Maker)

QUOTE: But as I wrote in my last column, the pickup in prices and trading has reignited the idea that speculators are to blame, not underlying market conditions. That claim isn’t new: People have been blaming speculators for about as long as there have been markets. But in recent days, a more powerful group has joined the antispeculation bandwagon: members of Congress.

 New York Times
Apr 21, 2008 New Threat to Farmers: The Market Hedge ("The Food Chain" part 5)

QUOTE: Those wild swings in expected [crop] prices are damaging the mechanisms — like futures contracts and options — that in the past have cushioned the jolts of farming, turning already-busy farmers into reluctant day-traders and part-time lobbyists.

 New York Times
Oct 24, 2007 BP Settlements Seen on Safety and Price Cases

QUOTE: The expected settlement in the refinery case signals the government’s willingness to take a hard line in forcing companies to redress environmental and worker safety problems. Officials said that the Texas City case would not resolve accusations against BP executives who may have failed to take steps to make the refinery safer and that those investigations would continue.

 New York Times
Jul 26, 2007 Fund Accused of Manipulating Gas Markets

QUOTE: After a yearlong investigation, federal regulators have charged Amaranth Advisors, a high-flying hedge fund that collapsed in 2006, with attempts to manipulate natural gas prices last year.

 New York Times
May 17, 2007 How They'll Try to Sucker You, From 1 to 10

QUOTE: It's the top 10 ways people get involved in bogus or inappropriate investments. The list is compiled by the North American Securities Administrators Association. Some of the scams are old school. They've been around a long time and yet they continue to trap investors.

 Washington Post
Aug 30, 2006 U.S. Agencies Open Another Investigation Into Energy Trading at BP

QUOTE: BP, the giant oil company, acknowledged yesterday that federal investigators were looking into possible trading irregularities in oil and gasoline markets...examining possible manipulation in the over-the-counter crude oil market in 2003 and 2004, and in gasoline trading in 2002.

 New York Times
Aug 18, 2006 Adviser Jailed Since 2000 Pleads Guilty in Securities Fraud Case

QUOTE: Mr. Armstrong, founder of Princeton Economics International, admitted to deceiving corporate investors and improperly commingling client funds in a case that prosecutors said resulted in commodities losses of more than $700 million.

 New York Times