CFTC Chair to Farmers: Crypto-Style Trading Won't Be Forced on Agricultural Markets

CFTC Chair Michael Selig told agricultural-industry leaders that the CFTC will not impose crypto-market innovations such as perpetual contracts and around-the-clock trading on traditional commodity markets.

In an address before the American Cotton Shippers Association, Mr. Selig said that the CFTC's recent approval of bitcoin perpetual contracts as futures was limited to crypto assets with deep, active spot markets, and that registrants seeking to list perpetuals outside crypto would have to consult the CFTC first. Mr. Selig said 24-7 trading and the perpetual model were not a natural fit for agricultural markets, which keep limited hours and rely on physical delivery, and that he had pressed exchanges to limit trading hours for agricultural event contracts on prediction markets to match traditional hours.

Mr. Selig also said he had revived the CFTC's Agricultural Advisory Committee, whose first meeting will address risk-management tools, the Basel III endgame, the Commitments of Traders report, and 24-7 trading.