COMEX Issues Fines for Spoofing

The Commodity Exchange ("COMEX") charged several traders in separate actions for disruptive trading practices or spoofing.

The COMEX Probable Cause Committee fined:

• a company $40,000 for failing to (i) sufficiently supervise the trading activity of employees who entered orders with the intent to cancel or modify them before they were executed and (ii) ensure that each trader used an authentic "Tag50" User ID when accessing Globex; and

• three traders (see here, here and here) $40,000, $50,000 and $50,000, separately for entering orders with the intent to cancel or modify them before they were executed.

According to the COMEX Business Conduct Committee, the company and the traders failed to answer the charges issued against them. As a result, COMEX determined that the company and traders admitted to the charges and waived their rights to a hearing.