A commodity pool is an investment structure where many individual investors combine their moneys and trade in futures contracts as a single entity in order to gain leverage. They are analogous to mutual funds wherein a fund is similarly set up expressly for trading in equity, except that mutual funds are open to public subscription whereas commodity pools and hedge funds are private.
Commodity pools are also called "managed futures funds". The name "commodity pool" is a National Futures Association (NFA) legal term. In the United States, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the NFA, as opposed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulate commodity pools.
Many hedge funds are commodity pools. Funds that trade in commodities, which include many of the largest funds engaged in macro-strategies, are registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as commodity pools and as commodity trading advisors (CTAs). In an address to the Securities Industry Association in 2004, Sharon Brown-Hruska, acting director of the CFTC, said that 65 of the top 100 funds in 2003 were commodity pools, and 50 out of the 100 largest hedge funds were CTAs in addition to being commodity pools. [1]
A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing in commodities. Commodity markets can include physical trading and derivatives trading using spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Farmers have used a simple form of derivative trading in the commodity market for centuries for price risk management.
In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent agency of the US government created in 1974 that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures, swaps, and certain kinds of options.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the day on stock exchanges, whereas mutual funds are bought and sold from the issuer based on their price at day's end.
Foreign exchange fraud is any trading scheme used to defraud traders by convincing them that they can expect to gain a high profit by trading in the foreign exchange market. Currency trading became a common form of fraud in early 2008, according to Michael Dunn of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
A commodity broker is a firm or an individual who executes orders to buy or sell commodity contracts on behalf of the clients and charges them a commission. A firm or individual who trades for his own account is called a trader. Commodity contracts include futures, options, and similar financial derivatives. Clients who trade commodity contracts are either hedgers using the derivatives markets to manage risk, or speculators who are willing to assume that risk from hedgers in hopes of a profit.
Amaranth Advisors LLC was an American multi-strategy hedge fund founded by Nicholas M. Maounis and headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut. At its peak, the firm had up to $9.2 billion in assets under management before collapsing in September 2006, after losing in excess of $6 billion on natural gas futures. Amaranth Advisors collapse is one of the biggest hedge fund collapses in history and at the time (2006) largest known trading losses.
The National Futures Association (NFA) is the self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the U.S. derivatives industry, including on-exchange traded futures, retail off-exchange foreign currency (forex) and OTC derivatives (swaps). NFA is headquartered in Chicago and maintains an office in New York City. NFA is a non-profit, independent regulatory organization. NFA does not operate any markets and is not a trade association. NFA is financed from membership dues and assessment fees, and membership is mandatory for many market participants.
Commodity Exchange Act is a federal act enacted in 1936 by the U.S. Government, with some of its provisions amending the Grain Futures Act of 1922.
The Foreign Exchange Dealers Coalition (FXDC) was an alliance of the largest U.S. foreign exchange market dealers, that appears to have closed sometime after 2010. The FXDC partnership was formed in the fall of 2007 to pool industry resources to demonstrate the viability of the forex industry and to ensure fair regulation and oversight that does not hamper freedom of choice, innovation or job creation. The Coalition aimed to provide input to the proposals for major regulation changes at the time, including the required registration for Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers (RFEDs) with the National Futures Association.
Matchbook FX was an internet-based electronic communication network for trading currency online in the Spot-FX or foreign exchange market. It operated between 1999 and 2002.
Marathon Asset Management,LP is an investment manager focused on opportunistic investing in credit and fixed income markets globally. Marathon manages a family of investment programs principally focused on credit strategies including hedge funds, managed accounts, single-client funds and collateralized loan, and debt obligation vehicles.
Sharon Brown-Hruska is the former Acting Chairman and Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). She was designated as the Acting Chairman of the CFTC by President George W. Bush in 2004 and served in the role until 2005. She also served as a Commissioner of the CFTC for two terms under President Bush.
Winton Group, Ltd is a British investment management firm founded by David Harding. In the United States, Winton is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisor and with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a CTA, and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The company trades on more than 100 global futures markets in a wide variety of asset classes and on global equity markets. The firm was launched with $1.6 million in 1997, reached a peak of $28.5 billion in assets under advisement, before dropping to 7.3 billion by late 2020. Winton Group has six offices around the world: London, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, and Abu Dhabi.
A Commodity pool operator (CPO) is an individual or organization that solicits or receives funds to use in the operation of a commodity pool, syndicate, investment trust, or other similar fund, specifically for trading in commodity interests. Such interests include commodity futures, swaps, options and/or leverage transactions. A commodity pool may refer to funds that trade in commodities and can include hedge funds. A CPO may make trading decisions for a fund or the fund can be managed by one or more independent commodity trading advisors. The definition of CPO may apply to investment advisors for hedge funds and private funds including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in certain cases. CPOs are generally regulated by the United States federal government through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and National Futures Association.
A commodity trading advisor (CTA) is US financial regulatory term for an individual or organization who is retained by a fund or individual client to provide advice and services related to trading in futures contracts, commodity options and/or swaps. They are responsible for the trading within managed futures accounts. The definition of CTA may also apply to investment advisors for hedge funds and private funds including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in certain cases. CTAs are generally regulated by the United States federal government through registration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and membership of the National Futures Association (NFA).
A managed futures account (MFA) or managed futures fund (MFF) is a type of alternative investment in the US in which trading in the futures markets is managed by another person or entity, rather than the fund's owner. Managed futures accounts include, but are not limited to, commodity pools. These funds are operated by commodity trading advisors (CTAs) or commodity pool operators (CPOs), who are generally regulated in the United States by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the National Futures Association. As of June 2016, the assets under management held by managed futures accounts totaled $340 billion.
Aspect Capital is a London-based investment manager that applies a systematic and quantitative approach to investment management. According to the Financial Times, Aspect uses "technology and complex mathematical models to power computers that trade the world's markets around the clock". Aspect manages USD6.6bn.
Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe keep assets, and regulators who monitor the markets' activities. Investors buy and sell through broker-dealers and have their assets retained by either their executing broker-dealer, a custodian bank or a prime broker. These transactions take place in the environment of equity and equity options exchanges, regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or derivative exchanges, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For transactions involving stocks and bonds, transfer agents assure that the ownership in each transaction is properly assigned to and held on behalf of each investor.
AlphaSimplex Group (AlphaSimplex) is an American investment management firm based in Boston. The firm relies on quantitative analysis for its approach to investing.