5 - The Regulatory Framework for the US Derivatives Markets

Summary

The federal regulation of futures markets dates back to the Grain Futures Act of 1922, and thus is older than the US government’s securities laws. In the beginning, the primary emphasis of the regulatory regime was to push all futures trading on exchanges that were licensed by the government, with the belief that the exchanges would police trading on their markets for manipulation of the prices of commodities and related misconduct. With time, the government took a more active role in regulating the markets, but the system’s overall emphasis on self-regulation – by exchanges and, starting in the 1980s, also by the NFA – remains to this day. While the primary purpose of federal regulation of futures and derivatives has been the elimination (or, more accurately, the attempted elimination) of market manipulation and disruptive trading practices, other important purposes of the CEA include reducing systemic risk and preventing fraud.