CFTC Regulation 4.22 Amended Earlier this year the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) proposed amendments to certain Part 4 Regulations.  Last week, after a lengthy comment and revision period, the CFTC published the amendments in the Federal Register.  The effective date of the amendments is December 9, 2009 and will [...]

By Bart Mallon, Esq. (www.colefrieman.com) “Purchased Lead Lists and How to Use Them” A good resource for CTAs that are actively trying to raise money are lead lists – lists of names and contact information of potential future clients or investors.  This overview is for the CTA Expo 2009 program [...]

By Bart Mallon, Esq. (www.colefrieman.com) “Compliance in a Changing Environment” As we are all well aware both the investing and the regulatory environments have experienced a dramatic refocusing on compliance and related issues in the wake of the 2008 meltdown and the Bernie Madoff affair.  This overview is for the [...]

Commodity Trading Advisor Conference Next week there will be a conference for Commodity Trading Advisors held in Chicago at the Hotel Monaco.  The conference, entitled the CTA Expo 2009, will be held on Wednesday and will feature a variety of topics of interest to CTAs.  The agenda includes: Continental Breakfast [...]

CFTC Chairman Gensler Applauds “Historic Progress” In a first step towards increased regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives markets, the House Financial Services Committee approved the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009.  The act is one of several initiatives to increase regulatory oversight of the financial markets and if passed by [...]

Practical guidance for CTA and CPO firms Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs) and Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs) have been contacting me with greater regularity and we have decided to provide those firms with more detailed information on their registration and compliance requirements. Over the course of the next few weeks we [...]

CPOs Prohibited From Taking Loans From Commodity Hedge Funds The CFTC just recently approved a new NFA compliance rule which prohibits commodity pool operators (CPOs) from taking loans from the commodity pools which they manage. Additionally, if a CPO currently has some sort of a loan arrangement with their fund, [...]

Embarrassed Agency Would Get Much Needed Funding “The SEC’s failure to catch Bernie Madoff shows a level of incompetence unseen since FEMA’s handling of Hurricane Katrina” — Charles Schumer To say that the SEC is or should be embarrassed about the Madoff scandal is an understatement (please see our most [...]

CFTC Withdraws Two No-Action Letters In a surprise move the CFTC has withdrawn two no-action letters which is had just recently issued.  Under the new Chairman Gary Gensler, the CFTC has made an about face on this issue with regard to two commodity pool operators who were relying on the [...]

Obama Administration to Regulate Derivatives Markets Today the Treasury announced that the Obama Administration proposed a bill named the “Over-the-Counter Derivatives Markets Act of 2009″.  The bill proposes to amend a number of the securities laws (including the Commodity Exchange Act, the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange [...]