During a public meeting held on October 18, 2011 (the "Open Meeting"), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "Commission" or the "CFTC") approved by a vote of 3 to 2 imposing final rules position limits for futures, options and swaps (the "Final Rules")1 pursuant to the provisions of Section 737 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act")2, which amended Section 4a of the Commodity Exchange Act in certain respects. The Final Rules will become effective January 17, 2012, although, as described below, various aspects of the Final Rules will be implemented in phases. In addition, the spot-month position limit rule is an interim final rule, which is subject to further consideration, and the comment period thereon will close on January 17, 2012. The Final Rules will be codified in a new Part 151 of the Commission's regulations and will result in a substantial overhaul of the existing position limits regime. However, certain longstanding exemptions from position limits have been retained, including the independent account controller exemption, in modified form.
Scope of the Final Rules
The Final Rules set position limits for futures and options contracts on 28 agricultural, energy, and metal commodities (the "Core Referenced Futures Contracts"), along with "economically equivalent" futures, options, and swaps contracts3 (collectively, the "Referenced Contracts").
The Core Referenced Futures Contracts are comprised of four energy contracts4, five metal contracts5, and nineteen agricultural contracts.6 The futures, options, and swaps contracts, which are treated as "economically equivalent" to those Core Referenced Futures Contracts, include any futures contract, options contract, swap or swaption that is (i) directly or indirectly linked, including being partially or fully settled on, or priced at a fixed differential to, the price of a Core Referenced Futures Contract; or (ii) directly or indirectly linked, including being partially or fully settled on, or price fixed at a fixed differential to, the price of the same commodity underlying a Core Referenced Futures Contract for delivery at the same location as specified in such a Core Referenced Futures Contract. The Final Rules exclude "basis contracts"7 and "commodity index contracts"8 from the definition of Referenced Contracts and such contracts therefore will not be subject to the position limits.
Compliance Time Frame
As noted above, the Final Rules will be implemented in phases. The spot-month and non-spot-month position limits generally will become effective 60 days after the publication of rules issued by the CFTC further defining the term "swap", which is likely to occur in early 2012.9 However, non-spot-month limits for Referenced Contracts that are not one of the 9 "legacy" agricultural Referenced Contracts10 will become effective only after approximately 12 months of open interest data on physical commodity cleared and uncleared swaps has been collected or estimated by the Commission. Thus, the effective date for those limits will be established at a subsequent date by Commission order. In the meantime, the existing limits or accountability levels set by Designated Contract Markets ("DCMs") and the existing position limits regime contained in the Commission's Part 150 Rules will apply.11
Spot-Month Limits
Spot-month limits are initially set at existing DCM levels. The Commission thereafter will generally set spot-month limits based on 25% of the estimated deliverable supply of the underlying physical commodity, both for physically-settled and cash-settled Referenced Contracts, but is soliciting additional comments on the appropriate methodology for setting spot-month limits on cash-settled Referenced Contracts.
On January 1st of the second year after the term "swap" is defined, the Commission will adopt new spot-month position limits. Spot-month limits will be updated biennially for energy and metal contracts and annually for agricultural contracts based on the Commission's estimate of deliverable supply of the underlying physical commodity in consultation with the DCMs.
Positions in physically-delivered and cash-settled Referenced Contracts in the same commodity will be viewed separately for purposes of the spot-month limits. For example, a trader would aggregate its positions in all cash-settled Referenced Contracts in the same commodity to determine whether the sum of its positions in that commodity is in compliance with the spot-month limits. Thus, a trader may hold positions up to the spot-month limit in both physically-delivered and cash-settled Referenced Contracts in the same commodity, but may not net spot-month positions in physically-delivered and cash-settled Referenced Contracts against each other.12
However, as an exception to the foregoing, the Final Rules provide for cash-settled NYMEX Henry Hub Natural Gas contracts to be subject to a cash-settled spot-month limit and an aggregate spot-month limit (extending across positions in physically-delivered and cash-settled natural gas contracts), both set at five-times the limit that applies to the physically-delivered NYMEX Henry Hub Natural Gas contract. This exception is a departure from the approach taken in the proposed rules released in January 2011 (the "Proposed Rules")13, which provided a conditional spot-month limit for all cash-settled contracts equal to five-times the limit that would have applied to physically-delivered contracts for all 28 Referenced Contracts.
Non-Spot-Month Limits
Non-spot-month limits for legacy agricultural Referenced Contracts are set at levels prescribed in the Final Rules and will be reset based on the Commission's traditional approach to setting and resetting these limits. Non-spot-month limits for non-legacy Referenced Contacts will be set at 10% of the first 25,000 contracts of the average all-months-combined aggregated open interest14 and 2.5% for open interest beyond 25,000 contracts. The Commission will update the non-spot-month limits for non-legacy Referenced Contracts biennially15 by using this formula and the limits will be based on the higher of the most recent 12 months average all-months-combined aggregate open interest or 24 months average all-months-combined aggregate open interest.
The Final Rules set the single-month limit at the same level as the all-months-combined position limit. All positions in a Referenced Contract will be netted to calculate the trader's aggregate single-month and all-month combined position (i.e., across futures, options and swaps), both physically delivered and cash-settled. In this regard, the Commission has eliminated class limits outside of the spot-month. Thus, positions held in physically-delivered and cash-settled Referenced Contracts in the same commodity may be netted against each other for purposes of the non-spot-month limits.
Preexisting Positions
Preexisting positions entered into in good faith prior to the effective date of the Final Rules will be exempted from the non-spot-month limits. Thus, preexisting positions may exceed non-spot-month limits, but a trader may not add new positions to its preexisting positions unless its preexisting positions fall below the applicable non-spot-month limit. In contrast, the exemption for preexisting positions will not apply with regard to spot-month limits.
Swaps entered prior to the effective date of the Dodd-Frank Act and prior to the initial implementation of the position limits will not be subject to the Final Rules. Also, for purposes of any position limits, swaps entered prior to the effective date of the Dodd-Frank Act may be netted with swaps entered after the effective date.
Note that index funds that "roll" their preexisting positions after the effective date of the Final Rules will not be able to rely on the preexisting position exemption.
Bona Fide Hedging Exemption
The Final Rules include a bona fide hedging exemption which recognizes some hedging activities for positions and transactions in Referenced Contracts. A position or transaction in a Referenced Contract may be eligible for a hedging exemption under Rule 151.5 to the extent that (i) it qualifies as bona fide hedging16; and (ii) it is one of a number of specific enumerated exemptions for bona fide hedging, or is construed as a pass through swap or as a pass through swap offset. In this regard, Rule 151.5 lists 8 enumerated exemptions, including anticipated merchandising hedges, anticipated royalty hedges, services hedges and cross-commodity hedges. In this regard, Appendix B to the Part 151 Rules contains a non-exclusive list of examples of bona fide hedging transactions or positions under Rule 151.5.
Rule 151.5 also permits a person to qualify for a bona fide hedging exemption if such person (typically a dealer) purchases or sells Referenced Contracts that reduce the risks attendant to a position resulting from a swap that was executed with a counterparty for whom the swap transaction would qualify as a bona fide hedging transaction. In order to classify a swap as a bona fide hedging transaction, the non-bona fide counterparty must enter into risk reducing positions, which offset the risk of the pass through swap and is required to obtain a representation from its counterparty that, in its good faith belief, such transaction would qualify as a bona fide hedging transaction. The non-bona fide hedging counterparty may treat both the pass through swap and its related risk reducing transaction, which will net risk down to zero, as bona fide so long as they are reducing that risk down.
In addition to the specific exemptions noted above, market participants may petition the CFTC or the staff for exemptive relief for other non-enumerated transactions. Such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Rule 151.5 also provides an exemption for situations involving financial distress, but the Commission clarified that this exemption does not establish or otherwise represent a form of hedging exemption.
Aggregation of Accounts and Related Exemptions
The Final Rules require a person to aggregate all positions in accounts in which the person, directly or indirectly, holds an ownership or equity interest of 10% or more, as well as accounts over which the person controls trading. The Final Rules treat positions held by two or more persons acting pursuant to an express or implied agreement or understanding the same as if positions were held by a single person.
The Final Rules also require a person to aggregate interests in funds or accounts with "identical" trading strategies. Thus, whether or not an exemption would otherwise apply, a person must aggregate any positions in multiple accounts or pools, such as passively-managed index-funds, if those accounts or pools have "identical" trading strategies. Note that under this provision, the general ownership threshold of 10% will not apply; rather, positions of any size in accounts or pools will require aggregation.
In a significant departure from the Proposed Rules, the Final Rules retain the IAC (as defined below) exemption. The Final Rules do not, however, contain the "owned non-financial entity" exemption included in the Proposed Rules. The Commission set forth the view that the retention of the IAC exemption as well as its adoption of certain other exemptions, obviates the need for additional disaggregation exemptions at this time. In that connection, the Final Rules include exemptions for (i) persons who have a 10% or more interest in an entity if the ownership interest is based on the underwriting of securities and (ii) instances where aggregation across commonly-owned affiliates would require position information sharing that would result in the violation of Federal Law, subject to a notice filing, including an opinion of counsel.
Independent Account Controller Exemption
The Proposed Rules would have eliminated the existing exemption from speculative position limits for independent account controllers ("IAC"). However, in response to comments, the Commission decided to retain this exemption in Rule 151.7(f) pursuant to which an "eligible entity"17 may disaggregate positions managed by an IAC from its proprietary positions (outside of the spot-month) if such IAC trades independently of the "eligible entity" as well as any other IAC and has no knowledge of trading decisions by any other IAC. An IAC is defined to include a person (i) who is authorized to control trading decisions of the "eligible entity"; (ii) over whose trading the "eligible entity" maintains only such minimum control as is consistent with its fiduciary responsibilities; (iii) who trades independently of the "eligible entity" and any other IAC for the "eligible entity"; (iv) who has no knowledge of trading decisions by any other IAC; and (v) who is registered as a futures commission merchant (an "FCM"), an introducing broker, a commodity trading advisor, or an associated person of any such registrant or a general partner of a commodity pool the operator of which is exempt from registration under Rule 4.13. As adopted, the IAC exemption is limited to client positions or accounts and thus does not does not apply to positions in proprietary accounts and is also no longer self-executing. Thus, an "eligible entity" must submit a notice filing in accordance with Rule 151.7(h) to the Commission to qualify for the IAC exemption that (i) is effective upon submission; (ii) describes the circumstances that warrant disaggregation; and (iii) certifies that the conditions for the exemption have been satisfied.
In determining whether a trader has control, the Commission will take into account certain factors or indicia of control and such determination will be made on a case-by-case basis, which appears to be consistent with its traditional policy in this area. A non-exclusive list of such indicia of control includes the existence of firewalls separating the trading functions of the IAC and the "eligible entity", as well as the degree of separation between the research functions supporting a firm's proprietary desk and its client trading desk.
FCM Exemption
Under Rule 151.7(e), position limits apply to all positions held by an FCM or its separately organized affiliates in a discretionary account, or in an account which is part of, or participates in, or receives trading advice from a customer trading program of such FCM or any of its officers, partners, or employees unless (i) a trader other than the FCM or the affiliate directs trading in such account; (ii) the FCM or the affiliate only maintains such minimum control over the trading in such account as is necessary to fulfill its duty to diligently supervise trading in the account; and (iii) each trading decision of the discretionary account or the customer trading program is determined independently of all trading decisions in other accounts that the FCM or affiliate holds, owns a 10% or more financial interest in, or controls. Rule 151.7(e) tracks the exemption in current Rule 150.4(d), but will no longer be self-executing and will require a notice filing under Rule 151.7(h).
Ownership in Commodity Pools Exemption
The Commission also retained, with certain modifications, the exemption for ownership in commodity pools by limited partners, shareholders, or other pool participants. If a person is a limited partner, shareholder, or other similar type of pool participant with an ownership interest of 10% or more and the person is also a principal or affiliate of the operator of the pooled account, the person must aggregate the pooled account with all other accounts it owns or controls unless the commodity pool operator (a "CPO") has, and enforces, written procedures to preclude the person from having knowledge about the trading positions of the pool, the person does not have supervisory authority or control over the pool's trading decisions, and the CPO complies with the notice filing requirement under Rule 151.7(h).
As under current Rule 151.4(c)(1), a CPO who owns 10% or more in an account as a limited partner, shareholder, or other type of pool participant must aggregate the accounts or positions with all other accounts or positions owned or controlled by the CPO. Also, as under current Rule 151.4(c)(3), Rule 151.7(c)(3) requires each limited partner, shareholder, or other similar type of pool participant having an ownership or equity interest of 25% or greater in a commodity pool the operator of which is exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 4.13 to aggregate the pooled account with all other accounts it owns or controls.
Position Visibility Reporting
The Final Rules create an enhanced reporting regime for traders who hold positions in certain energy and metal Referenced Contracts in excess of a specified "visibility level". If a trader exceeds a position visibility level in such Referenced Contract, the trader will be required to file a report with the CFTC on a quarterly basis reflecting its physical and derivatives portfolio in the same or substantially the same commodity.
Footnotes
1 See 76 Fed. Reg. 71626 (November 18, 2011).
2 See Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1375 (2010).
3 Swap contracts with prices closely correlated to those of the Core Referenced Futures Contracts.
4 (1) NYMEX Henry Hub Natural Gas (NG); (2) NYMEX Light Sweet Crude Oil (CL); (3) NYMEX New York Harbor Gasoline Blendstock (RB); and (4) NYMEX New York Harbor Heating Oil (HO).
5 (1) COMEX Copper (HG); (2) COMEX Gold (GC); (3) COMEX Silver (SI), (4) NYMEX Palladium (PA); and (5) NYMEX Platinum (PL).
6 (1) CBOT Corn (C); (2) CBOT Oats (O); (3) CBOT Soybeans (S); (4) CBOT Soybean Meal (SM); (5) CBOT Soybean Oil (BO); (6) CBOT Wheat (W); (7) ICE Futures U.S. Cotton No.2 (CT); (8) KCBT Hard Winter Wheat (KW); (9) MGEX Hard Red Spring Wheat (MWE); (10) CME Class III Milk (DA); (11) CME Feeder Cattle (FC); (12) CME Lean Hog (LH); (13) CME Live Cattle (LC); (14) CBOT Rough Rice (RR); (15) ICE Futures U.S. Cocoa (CC); (16) ICE Futures U.S. Coffee C (KC); (17) ICE Futures U.S. FCOJ-A(OJ); (18) ICE Futures U.S. Sugar No. 11 (SB); and (19) ICE Futures U.S. Sugar No. 16 (SF).
7 "Basis contracts" are agreements, contracts, or transactions that are cash-settled based on the difference in price of the same commodity or substantially the same commodity at different delivery locations.
8 "Commodity index contracts" are agreements, contracts, or transactions that are not a basis or any type of spread contracts, based on an index comprised of prices of commodities that are not the same or substantially the same; provided that commodity index contracts used to circumvent speculative position limits shall be considered to be Referenced Contracts for the purpose of applying the position limits. For instance, a swap based on prices of multiple different commodities comprising an index is a "commodity index contract" and therefore is not subject to the position limits. In contrast, a contract based on the prices of a Referenced Contract and the same or substantially the same commodity and not based on the difference between such prices is not a "commodity index contract" and is therefore a Referenced Contract subject to the position limits.
9 See 76 Fed. Reg. 42508 (July 19, 2011) (Effective Date for Swap Regulation).
10 The 9 legacy agricultural Referenced Contracts are: (1) CBOT Corn (C); (2) CBOT Oats (O); (3) CBOT Soybeans (S); (4) CBOT Soybean Meal (SM); (5) CBOT Soybean Oil (BO); (6) CBOT Wheat (W); (7) ICE Futures U.S. Cotton No.2 (CT); (8) KCBT Hard Winter Wheat (KW); and (9) MGEX Hard Red Spring Wheat (MWE).
11 See n.1 supra at 71632 and n. 61.
12 Thus, for example, if the spot-month limit for a Referenced Contract is 1,000 contracts, then a trader could hold up to 1,000 contracts long in the physically-delivered contract and 1,000 contracts long in the cash-settled contract. However, the same trader could not hold 1,001 contracts long in the physically-delivered contract and hold 1 contract short in the cash-settled and remain under the limit for the physically-delivered contract. A trader's cash-settled contract position would be a function of the trader's position in Referenced Contracts based on the same commodity that are cash-settled futures and swaps (i.e., netting is allowed between positions in cash-settled Referenced Contracts in the same commodity).
13 See 76 Fed. Reg. 4752 (January 26, 2011).
14 Open interest used in determining the non-spot-month limits will equal the sum of cleared swaps open interest, uncleared swaps open interest, and futures open interest.
15 It was noted during the Open Meeting that the CFTC has plenary authority to reassess these limits at any time. Pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFTC also will conduct a study in consultation with DCMs of the effect of the position limits on excessive speculation and the movement of transactions, if any, from DCMs to foreign venues. This study is to be completed 12 months after the imposition of position limits. A transcript of the Open Meeting is available at http://www.cftc.gov/ucm/groups/public/@swaps/documents/dfsubmission/dfsubmission7_101811-trans.pdf .
16 To qualify as bona fide hedging, a transaction or position must (1) represent a substitute for a transaction made or to be made in a "physical marketing channel"; (2) be economically appropriate to the reduction of risks in the conduct and management of a commercial enterprise; and (3) arise from the potential change in the value of assets, liabilities, or services.
17 See n.1. supra at 71685. The term "eligible entity" includes mutual funds, banks, CPOs, commodity trading advisors, insurance companies, the limited partner of a commodity pool the operator of which is exempt from registration under Rule 4.13, and the separately organized affiliates of any of the foregoing entities.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
