CFTC Says Exchanges Must End Domestic Geographic Access Restrictions

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on November 5, 2026, issued an interpretation of the requirement that designated contract markets (DCMs) provide competitive, open, fair and impartial access to their members and to persons with trading privileges, the agency said. The requirement is set out in Commission Regulation 38.151(b).

Under the interpretation, DCMs must stop domestic geographic restrictions that violate the impartial access requirements within 30 days, according to the CFTC. A DCM that cannot do so must instead submit an explanation to the agency's Division of Market Oversight of why compliance is not feasible.

The CFTC said that, also within 30 days, DCMs should ensure that intermediaries accessing their markets are complying with the DCMs' impartial access requirements and are not impeding them. DCMs that cannot ensure this should likewise submit an explanation to the division.

"Derivatives markets must operate on a uniform basis at a national scale in order to achieve the purposes set out in the Commodity Exchange Act," CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said. "Geographic access restrictions are inconsistent with those purposes and the Act's impartial access requirements."

The commission said it will consider the facts and circumstances of any particular case in connection with potential commission action.

Source: Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/798