CFTC Set to Limit Oil Speculation With Senate Backing

The top U.S. commodity regulator is poised to impose new rules on oil speculators as Congress and the European Commission attempt to rein in trading in the $615 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market.

A bill by Senate Democrats to overhaul financial regulation would require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to set limits on the number of contracts a single trader can hold in commodities such as crude oil, natural gas, heating oil and gasoline, including the bilateral contracts known as swaps that are negotiated outside of regulated exchanges.

The Senate approved the measure yesterday and it now must be reconciled with a version voted by the House last year. The legislation dovetails with the commission’s January proposal to cap contracts on regulated exchanges, and would extend the agency’s authority to the over-the-counter market for the first time since swaps trading began nearly 30 years ago.

“The chances that position limits will pass now are stronger than they were in January,” said Michael Greenberger, a former CFTC director of trading and markets and now a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. “If they are waiting for a signal from Congress as to what the scope of their power will be long term, this is a pretty powerful signal.”

Bloomberg