CFTC Proposes New Position Limits Rule In Wake of Court’s Vacating Prior Regulation

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission proposed a rule Nov. 5 that would impose speculative position limits on 28 physical commodity futures contracts and their “economically equivalent” swaps.

The proposed rule is aimed partly at addressing deficiencies found by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the agency’s original position limits rule, which the court vacated in 2012 in a legal challenge by International Swaps and Derivatives Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (189 DER EE-21, 10/1/12). The court ruled that the agency “fundamentally misunderstood” its legislative mandate under the Commodity Exchange Act ...