Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Apparently your position size has exceeded one or more of these thresholds.
I can't offer any personal insight beyond that which is written on the CFTC website, but since you now hold a large futures position you don't have a choice in the matter. You "must" report.
Form 40 instructions,
"A reportable trader must file a Form 40 on call by the Commission or its designee"
"Every person who holds or controls a reportable position must file a CFTC Form 40, Statement of Reporting Trader"
I do know that the information you supply will be used by the CFTC in both monitoring and reporting activities, such as the COT reports that they publish each week. Punters like me are classified in these reports as "non-reportable". You, however, are apparently a big boy now. Congratulations. You're on the CFTC's radar.
If I were in your position I would call your broker or clearing firm and speak to their compliance department. I'm sure they would have resources to help you with your reporting requirements and perhaps offer some additional guidance for how you might be able to minimize your administrative burdens going forward.
Looking ar the table of the thresholds, most of them are far beyond my position numbers. With one exception: "All other Commmodities: 25".
Indeed, I hold 40 futures for the Bloomberg Commodity Index, which is a small future with a maintenance margin of 700 - 800 USD at Interactive Brokers.
I hope this position does not cause me a lot of problems ...
Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals, U308 and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
Duration: Never
Posts: 5,059 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 4,410
Thanks Received: 10,226
Welcome to the Club!
In reality, other than the government getting information about you - the loss of privacy, none at all - at least for me.
Agreed not a choice.
For me all I have to do is file a form with the CFTC every two years. They even email me when the form is due. It's a pretty simple form as well. All the actual reporting is done automatically by the broker to the CFTC. I'm sure every broker has systems in place to do this - if they don't they must have small clients!
This is true. I actually had a meeting with the CFTC. They literally called me up and said 'hey we're in town mind if we get together'. I nearly had a heart attack! In reality it was purely informational - and I actually learnt a lot from them. They were literally in town (Houston) from Chicago for the week and doing a round of meetings. They'd seen one of my positions, were curious about it and added me to the list of meetings! This definitely puts you on their radar!
I see that nobody responded, so I will do my best to help out with the understanding that I'm not a regulatory or compliance attorney and this is not legal advice. This is my view based on what I know about this process.
Not sure what it means to be "invited" to file Form 40. Generally, you are required to do so if you are holding or controlling a reportable position. This isn't an option. A trader must do so. The goal of this is for this federal regulator to understand what you are doing with the position, whether it is hedged or speculative and so on. Their mandate is to make sure that the markets remain orderly and we don't see another LTCM-type of blow-up or cornering of the market. By filing Form 40, you are not "registering" in the classical sense (meaning someone who is holding a license or anything).
If you need the name/number of a good compliance attorney, please drop me a private message.
Good luck!
Risk Disclaimer: Trading Futures is not suitable for all investors. Past Performance is not indicative of future results.
If you have any questions about the products or services provided, please send me a Private Message or use the futures.io " Ask Me Anything" thread
Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals, U308 and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
Duration: Never
Posts: 5,059 since Dec 2013
Thanks Given: 4,410
Thanks Received: 10,226
No worries. I thought your reply was a little strange. You do a lot for the trading community in general, for which I salute you. Stay Safe in these interesting times!
In Austrian language, "invited", using quotation marks, means the same as "required". Sorry - our language is not as clear as yours ...
There is a saying regarding Germans and Austrians, who both have German as their native language: "The major difference between Germans and Austrians is the common language."