CFTC Staff Letters Archive

CFTC Staff Letters Archive provides Letters from 2007 and earlier. For Letters published 2008 or later visit the All Letters page.

There are no Advisory Letters or Other Written Communications for 2007 or earlier.

Date	PDF and Description
01/07/2000	00-07 ; Rule 4.13(a)(2) and Rule 4.22(d);; No-Action Withdrawal from registration as a CPO granted under Rule 413(a)(2), and exemption from the certified financial statement requirements of Rule 4.22(d).
01/06/2000	00-10 ; Section 4m(1) -- No Action Position from CPO Registration;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets provided a no-action position to a University's cooperative extension service, its agents and employees permitting them to offer seminar courses to certain students who have completed a specific undergraduate course sequence that would allow those students to trade commodity interests through participation in a Trading Club.
12/30/1999	00-05 ; Rule 4.7;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets permitted a CPO to treat two persons as QEPs, where: (1) the first person was an accredited investor pursuant to Rules 501(a)(5) and 501(a)(6) under the Securities Act of 1933, who had worked as an analyst/trader in the securities industry for over five years; and (2) the second person was a executive officer of the Rule 4.7 pool and a knowledgeable employee under the Investment Company Act of 1940, who had worked in the financial services industry for over seven years.
12/23/1999	00-84 ; Rule 4.14(a)(6) and 4.31;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets rejected the claim by an IB that the IB was not required to make available at its website the Disclosure Documents of CTAs whose performance the IB compiled, formatted and featured on the website, and in whose fees the IB shared (in at least some instances). Consistent with the guidance set forth in 63 Fed. Reg. 39104 (July 22, 1997), the Division required the IB: 1) to post on the website a summary risk disclosure statement; 2) to ensure that any third-party CTA information on the website (including performance) is accurate and not misleading; and 3) in each instance of fee-sharing or other direct compensation of the IB by a CTA, to make the CTA's Disclosure Document easily available on the IB's website.
12/23/1999	00-04 ; Rule 4.7;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets extended the relief previously provided by CFTC Letter No. 99-30, to permit a CPO to additionally claim relief under Rule 4.7 with respect to four other pools it operated based upon, among others, representations that: (1) at least 94% of the capital of each other pool was contributed by QEPs; (2) the non-QEPs would not participate in investments by the other pools in commodity interests, would not share in any profits or losses from the other pools' commodity interest trading, and would not have any other pools' assets allocable to them subject to claim by the other pools' FCM; and (3) the CPO and the other pools would follow all of the procedures and requirements set forth in CFTC Letter No. 99-30.
12/22/1999	99-66 ; 4.22(c) & (d);; No-Action Previously, the CPO of a small pool which commenced trading October 1, 1998, requested exemption from the requirement of Rule 4.22(d) that the pool's 1998 Annual Report be audited. That exemption was granted upon condition that (1) an unaudited 1998 annual report be provided to the participants, and (2) the audited 1999 report would include 1998 data. Subsequently, the small pool closed by the fiscal year ending 1999 and requested exemption from filing a certified Annual Report for the entire 15-month period.
12/22/1999	00-09 ; Rule 4.7(a) and 4.7(b) - Exemptive Relief for CPO and CTA;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets granted an exemption to a CPO and CTA, permitting it to treat unnamed employees of the CPO and its affiliates who meet certain specified criteria as QEPs for the purpose of investing in a Rule 4.7 Fund and any Future Funds (Future Funds) operated by the CPO.
12/22/1999	00-06 ; Rule 4.7(a) - Exemptive Relief for CPO;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets granted an exemption to permit the CPO of a Rule 4.7 Fund to treat a key employee as a QEP. The employee, the CPO's Director of Information and Technology since November 1997, researches historical price data for all commodities traded by the Fund, has built computer models based on its research, and along with the CPO's sole principal, developed the technical trading program that provides the overall portfolio strategy for the Fund. The Division also denied an exemption to the Company with respect to another employee who: (1) serves as a trader in a discrete market in which the Fund is trading; (2) has no discretion to place trades; and (3) is not an accredited investor.
12/17/1999	99-63 ; Sections 5 and 5a of the Act;; No-Action The Division of Trading and Markets (Division) issued a letter granting no-action relief to permit the Singapore International Monetary Exchange Limited (SIMEX) to make its electronic trading and order matching system, known as SIMEX ETS, available to its members in the US without obtaining contract market designation pursuant to Sections 5 and 5a of the CEA.
12/16/1999	99-68 ; Section 20 of the Act; Commission rules Part 190;; No-Action Staff of the Division of Trading and Markets issued a letter discussing the basic legal principles governing the insolvency of clearing and non-clearing futures commission merchants (FCMs), specifically with respect to the status and disposition of retail customer accounts.