FIA responds to the recent Request for Comment published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, regarding the potential uses, benefits, and risks of trading and clearing on a 24/7 basis in the derivatives markets.
FIA’s member firms include clearing firms, exchanges, clearinghouses, and trading and commercial firms that operate in the exchange-traded derivatives markets. Many of FIA’s member firms are CFTC-registered futures commission merchants that facilitate and/or support trading by derivatives market participants.
FIA’s membership is uniquely qualified to comment on the RFC, being directly affected by any changes to the hours during which their customers and clients may trade and when trades must be cleared.
There are significant operational, infrastructure, risk, compliance, and regulatory issues that require careful consideration and appropriate resolution for the healthy functioning of 24/7 trading and clearing. FIA does not support extending trading and clearing in CFTC-regulated derivatives markets to a 24/7 basis until such issues have been systematically identified, assessed, and resolved pursuant to public comment and informed public agency action. FIA sets forth in this letter its primary concerns with a transition to 24/7 trading and clearing under the existing regulatory framework, and the significant issues and market risk that such a transition may entail.
Read full response here.
