Position Limits

Chairman Timothy Massad and Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) delivered speeches at the Energy Risk Summit in Houston this week, providing a roadmap for the CFTC’s current and upcoming rulemaking as well as a policy perspective on the CFTC’s proposed position limit rules.

In remarks to the conference

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) proposed rule on position limits continues to be a priority for energy market participants, as both Congress and the CFTC are actively reviewing this issue.  The final rule threatens well-established hedging and risk management practices related to the trading of futures and swaps by energy market participants.

Recently, the

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on December 16 unanimously elected Commissioner Mark Wetjen to serve as Acting Chairman when current Chairman Gary Gensler departs, which could be as soon as January 3, 2014.  President Obama has nominated Timothy Massad, Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the Treasury Department, to succeed Chairman Gensler.

Commissioner Wetjen