Title 17

SECTION 150.5

150.5 Exchange-set speculative position limits.

§ 150.5 Exchange-set speculative position limits. Link to an amendment published at 86 FR 3470, Jan. 14, 2021.

(a) Exchange limits. Each contract market as a condition of designation under part 5, appendix A, of this chapter shall be bylaw, rule, regulation, or resolution limit the maximum number of contracts a person may hold or control, separately or in combination, net long or net short, for the purchase or sale of a commodity for future delivery or, on a futures-equivalent basis, options thereon. This section shall not apply to a contract market for which position limits are set forth in § 150.2 of this part or for a futures or option contract market on a major foreign currency, for which there is no legal impediment to delivery and for which there exists a highly liquid cash market. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a contract market from fixing different and separate position limits for different types of futures contracts based on the same commodity, or from fixing different position limits for different futures or for different delivery months, or from exempting positions which are normally known in the trade as “spreads, straddles, or arbitrage,” of from fixing limits which apply to such positions which are different from limits fixed for other positions.

(b) Levels at designation. At the time of its initial designation, a contract market must provide for speculative position limit levels as follows:

(1) For physical delivery contracts, the spot month limit level must be no greater than one-quarter of the estimated spot month deliverable supply, calculated separately for each month to be listed, and for cash settled contracts, the spot month limit level must be no greater than necessary to minimize the potential for manipulation or distortion of the contract's or the underlying commodity's price;

(2) Individual nonspot or all-months-combined levels must be no greater than 1,000 contracts for tangible commodities other than energy products;

(3) Individual nonspot or all-months-combined levels must be no greater than 5,000 contracts for energy products and nontangible commodities, including contracts on financial products.

(2) Individual nonspot or all-months-combined levels must be no greater than 10% of the average combined futures and delta-adjusted option month-end open interest for the most recent calendar year up to 25,000 contracts with a marginal increase of 2.5% thereafter or be based on position sizes customarily held by speculative traders on the contract market, which shall not be extraordinarily large relative to total open positions in the contract, the breadth and liquidity of the cash market underlying each delivery month and the opportunity for arbitrage between the futures market and the cash market in the commodity underlying the futures contract.

(d) Hedge exemption. (1) No exchange bylaw, rule, regulation, or resolution adopted pursuant to this section shall apply to bona fide hedging positions as defined by a contract market in accordance with the definition of bona fide hedging transactions and positions for excluded commodities in § 1.3 of this chapter. Provided, however, that the contract market may limit bona fide hedging positions or any other positions which have been exempted pursuant to paragraph (e) of this section which it determines are not in accord with sound commercial practices or exceed an amount which may be established and liquidated in orderly fashion.

(2) Traders must apply to the contract market for exemption from its speculative position limit rules. In considering whether to grant such an application for exemption, contract markets must take into account the factors contained in paragraph (d)(1) of this section.

(e) Trader accountability exemption. Twelve months after a contract market's initial listing for trading or at any time thereafter, contract markets may submit for Commission approval under section 5a(a)(12) of the Act and § 1.41(b) of this chapter a bylaw, rule, regulation, or resolution, substituting for the position limits required under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of this section an exchange rule requiring traders to be accountable for large positions as follows:

(1) For futures and option contracts on a financial instrument or product having an average open interest of 50,000 contracts and an average daily trading volume of 100,000 contracts and a very highly liquid cash market, an exchange bylaw, regulation or resolution requiring traders to provide information about their position upon request by the exchange;

(2) For futures and option contracts on a financial instrument or product or on an intangible commodity having an average moth-end open interest of 50,000 and an average daily volume of 25,000 contracts and a highly liquid cash market, an exchange bylaw, regulation or resolution requiring traders to provide information about their position upon request by the exchange and to consent to halt increasing further a trader's positions if so ordered by the exchange;

(3) For futures and option contracts on a tangible commodity, including but not limited to metals, energy products, or international soft agricultural products, having an average month-end open interest of 50,000 contracts and an average daily volume of 5,000 contracts and a liquid cash market, an exchange bylaw, regulation or resolution requiring traders to provide information about their position upon request by the exchange and to consent to halt increasing further a trader's positions if so ordered by the exchange, provided, however, such contract markets are not exempt from the requirement of paragraphs (b) or (c) that they adopt an exchange bylaw, regulation or resolution setting a spot month speculative position limit with a level no grater than one quarter of the estimated spot month deliverable supply;

(4) For purposes of this paragraph, trading volume and open interest shall be calculated by combining the month-end futures and its related option contract, on a delta-adjusted basis, for all months listed during the most recent calendar year.

(f) Other exemptions. Exchange speculative position limits adopted pursuant to this section shall not apply to any position acquired in good faith prior to the effective date of any bylaw, rule, regulation, or resolution which specifies such limit or to a person that is registered as a futures commission merchant or as a floor broker under authority of the Act except to the extent that transactions made by such person are made on behalf of or for the account or benefit of such person. In addition to the express exemptions specified in this section, a contract market may propose such other exemptions from the requirements of this section consistent with the purposes of this section and shall submit such rules Commission review under section 5a(1)(12) of the Act and § 1.41(b) of this chapter.

(g) Aggregation. In determining whether any person has exceeded the limits established under this section, all positions in accounts for which such person by power of attorney or otherwise directly or indirectly controls trading shall be included with the positions held by such person; such limits upon positions shall apply to positions held by two or more person acting pursuant to an express or implied agreement or understanding, the same as if the positions were held by a single person.

[64 FR 24048, May 5, 1999, as amended at 83 FR 7997, Feb. 23, 2018]