Commodity Swap Dealers and Index Traders with Commission Recommendations. Staff Report

摘要

Major changes in the composition of futures market participants have developed over the last 20 years. Specifically, there has been an influx of new traders into the market--commodity index traders (including pension and endowment funds) that seek exposure to commodities through passive long-term investment in commodity indexes, and swap dealers that seek to hedge price risk resulting from their over-the-counter (OTC) activity. In addition to those changes, volume growth on futures markets has increased fivefold in the last decade, and in the last year, the price and volatility of oil and other commodities have reached unprecedented levels. In light of these developments, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) staff has undertaken a survey of swap dealers and commodity index funds to better characterize their activity and understand their potential to influence the futures markets. This type of a compelled survey relating to off-exchange activity is unprecedented, but the growth and evolution in futures market participation and growing public concern regarding off-exchange activity supported the need for this extraordinary regulatory inquiry.