In finance,a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset,index,or interest rate,and is often simply called the underlying. Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes,including insuring against price movements (hedging),increasing exposure to price movements for speculation,or getting access to otherwise hard-to-trade assets or markets.
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 commodities market for centuries for price risk management.
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.
The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) is a United States federal law that ensures that over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives remained unregulated.
The Committee on Agriculture,Nutrition,and Forestry is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of all matters relating to the nation's agriculture industry,farming programs,forestry and logging,and legislation relating to nutrition,home economics,and rural development.
Gary S. Gensler is an American government official and former investment banker serving as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Gensler previously worked for Goldman Sachs and has led the Biden–Harris transition's Federal Reserve,Banking,and Securities Regulators agency review team. Prior to his appointment,he was professor of Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Nancy Erickson is an American political aide who served as the 32nd Secretary of the United States Senate from 2007 to 2015. She began her term as Secretary on January 4,2007,in the 110th Congress. Erickson was appointed by Democratic and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Brooksley Elizabeth Born is an American attorney and former public official who,from August 26,1996,to June 1,1999,was chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),the federal agency which oversees the U.S. futures and commodity options markets. During her tenure on the CFTC,Born lobbied Congress and the President to give the CFTC oversight of off-exchange markets for derivatives,in addition to its role with respect to exchange-traded derivatives,but her warnings were ignored or dismissed,and her calls for reform resisted by other regulators. Born resigned as chairperson on June 1,1999,shortly after Congress passed legislation prohibiting her agency from regulating derivatives.
Mary Lovelace Schapiro served as the 29th Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was appointed by President Barack Obama,unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate,and assumed the Chairship on January 27,2009. She is the first woman to be the permanent Chair of the SEC. In 2009,Forbes ranked her the 56th most powerful woman in the world.
Jill E. Sommers was sworn in as a commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on August 8,2007 to a term that expired April 13,2009. She was nominated on July 20,2009 by President Barack Obama to serve a five-year second term.,and confirmed by the United States Senate on October 8,2009.
Sean O'Brien Cota is an American businessman,energy market expert,financial commentator,and policy advisor on American energy and financial market transparency and reform measures. As the President of a third generation family-owned oil company,Cota &Cota Oil,Inc. in Bellows Falls,VT,whom he has worked for since 1977,he became extremely involved in energy commodity trading in 1988. In 2010,he was named Chairman of the Petroleum Marketers Association of America.
Bartholomew Hamilton Chilton was an American civil servant.
The Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act of 2013 is a bill that passed the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress. The bill would exempt nonfinancial entities that enter into a swap or a security-based swap transaction from meeting certain margin requirements when the transaction is designed to offset losses or gains in other investments.
Richard Bookstaber is the author of A Demon Of Our Own Design,a book highlighting the fragility of the financial system that occurs from tight coupling and complexity. The book is noted for its foreshadowing of the financial crisis of 2007–08. He is also the author of The End of Theory,which critiques the applicability of economics in dealing with financial crises,and proposes an alternative paradigm using agent-based models.
The Customer Protection and End User Relief Act was a bill that would have reauthorized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through 2018 and amended some provisions of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
J. Christopher Giancarlo is an American attorney and former business executive who served as 13th chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Giancarlo was sworn in as a CFTC commissioner on June 16,2014,for a term expiring on April 13,2019. Starting on January 20,2017,with President Donald Trump's inauguration,Giancarlo began serving as acting chair of the CFTC. In March 2017,the president nominated Giancarlo to be full-time chair of the commission. Giancarlo was confirmed as chairman of the commission by the United States Senate on August 3,2017.
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.
Heath Price Tarbert is an American lawyer and former government official who served as the 14th Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development and as acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. As of 2023,he is Chief Legal Officer and Head of Corporate Affairs for Circle.
Mark P. Wetjen is an American lawyer. In 2011,he was nominated by Barack Obama to serve a five-year term as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). He also served for five months as acting chairman of the CFTC upon the departure of his predecessor,Gary Gensler.
The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) is a bill in the U.S. Congress to explicitly address the treatment of digital assets under U.S. law.
