Title 17—Commodity and Securities Exchanges--Volume 1
PART 155—TRADING STANDARDS
§ 155.1   Definitions.
For purposes of this part, the term affiliated person of a futures commission merchant or of an introducing broker means any general partner, officer, director, owner of more than ten percent of the equity interest, associated person or employee of the futures commission merchant or of the introducing broker, and any relative or spouse of any of the foregoing persons, or any relative of such spouse, who shares the same home as any of the foregoing persons.
§ 155.2   Trading standards for floor brokers.
Each contract market shall adopt rules which shall, at a minimum, with respect to each member of the contract market acting as a floor broker:
(a) Prohibit such member from purchasing any commodity for future delivery, purchasing any call option, or selling any put option, for his own account or for any account in which he has an interest, while holding an order of another person for the (1) purchase of any future, (2) purchase of any call option, or (3) sale of any put option, in the same commodity which is executable at the market price or at the price at which such purchase or sale can be made for the member's own account or any account in which he has an interest.
(b) Prohibit such member from selling any commodity for future delivery, selling any call option, or purchasing any put option, for his own account or for any account in which he has an interest, while holding an order of another person for the (1) sale of any future, (2) sale of any call option, or (3) purchase of any put option, in the same commodity which is executable at the market price or at the price at which such sale or purchase can be made for the member's own account or any account in which he has an interest.
(c) Prohibit such member from executing any transaction for any account of another person for which buying and/or selling orders can be placed or originated, or for which transactions can be executed, by such member without the prior specific consent of the account owner, regardless of whether the general authorization for such orders or transactions is pursuant to a written agreement, except that orders for such an account may be placed with another member for execution.
(d) Prohibit such member from disclosing at any time that he is holding an order of another person or from divulging any order revealed to him by reason of his relationship to such other person, except pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section or at the request of an authorized representative of the Commission or the contract market.
(e) Prohibit such member from taking, directly or indirectly, the other side of any order of another person revealed to him by reason of his relationship to such other person, except with such other person's prior consent and in conformity with contract market rules approved by the Commission.
(f) Prohibit such member from making any purchase or sale which has been directly or indirectly prearranged.
(g) Prohibit such member from allocating trades among accounts except in accordance with rules of the contract market which have been approved by the Commission.
(h) Prohibit such member from withholding or withdrawing from the market any order or part of an order of another person for the convenience of another member.
(i) Require that every execution of a transaction on the floor by such member be confirmed promptly with the opposite floor broker or floor trader; such confirmation shall identify price or premium, quantity, future or commodity option and respective clearing members. In the event a contract market cannot require prompt identification of respective clearing members without seriously disrupting the functions of its marketplace, the contract market may petition the Commission for exemption from this requirement. Such petition shall include:
(1) An explanation of why the contract market cannot require the prompt identification of respective clearing members without seriously disrupting the functions of its marketplace, and
(2) A proposed contract market rule which will ensure that the opposite sides of every trade executed on the contract market can be effectively matched and will be accepted by a clearing member for clearance or will be otherwise sufficiently guaranteed.
§ 155.3   Trading standards for futures commission merchants.
(a) Each futures commission merchant shall, at a minimum, establish and enforce internal rules, procedures and controls to:
(1) Ensure, to the extent possible, that each order received from a customer which is executable at or near the market price is transmitted to the floor of the appropriate contract market before any order in any future or in any commodity option in the same commodity for any proprietary account, any other account in which an affiliated person has an interest, or any account for which an affiliated person may originate orders without the prior specific consent of the account owner, if the affiliated person has gained knowledge of the customer's order prior to the transmission to the floor of the appropriate contract market of the order for a proprietary account, an account in which the affiliated person has an interest, or an account in which the affiliated person may originate orders without the prior specific consent of the account owner; and
(2) Prevent affiliated persons from placing orders, directly or indirectly, with another futures commission merchant in a manner designed to circumvent the provisions of paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(b) No futures commission merchant or any of its affiliated persons shall:
(1) Disclose that an order of another person is being held by the futures commission merchant or any of its affiliated persons, unless such disclosure is necessary to the effective execution of such order or is made at the request of an authorized representative of the Commission, the contract market on which such order is to be executed, or a futures association registered with the Commission pursuant to section 17 of the Act; or
(2)(i) Knowingly take, directly or indirectly, the other side of any order of another person revealed to the futures commission merchant or any of its affiliated persons by reason of their relationship to such other person, except with such other person's prior consent and in conformity with contract market rules approved by or certified to the Commission.
(ii) In the case of a customer who does not qualify as an “institutional customer” as defined in § 1.3 of this chapter, a futures commission merchant must obtain the customer's prior consent through a signed acknowledgment, which may be accomplished in accordance with § 1.55(d) of this chapter.
(c) No futures commission merchant shall knowingly handle the account of any affiliated person of another futures commission merchant or of an introducing broker unless the futures commission merchant:
(1) Receives written authorization from a person designated by such other futures commission merchant or introducing broker with responsibility for the surveillance over such account pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section or § 155.4(a)(2), respectively;
(2) Prepares immediately upon receipt of an order for such account a written record of such order, including the account identification and order number, and records thereon, by time-stamp or other timing device, the date and time, to the nearest minute, the order is received; and
(3) Transmits on a regular basis to such other futures commission merchant or introducing broker copies of all statements for such account and of all written records prepared upon the receipt of orders for such account pursuant to paragraph (c)(2) of this section.
(d) No affiliated person of a futures commission merchant shall have an account, directly or indirectly, with another futures commission merchant unless:
(1) Such affiliated person receives written authorization to maintain such an account from a person designated by the futures commission merchant with which such person is affiliated with responsibility for the surveillance over such account pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section; and
(2) Copies of all statements for such account and of all written records prepared by such other futures commission merchant upon receipt of orders for such account pursuant to paragraph (c)(2) of this section are transmitted on a regular basis to the future commission merchant with which such person is affiliated.
§ 155.4   Trading standards for introducing brokers.
(a) Each introducing broker shall, at a minimum, establish and enforce internal rules, procedures and controls to:
(1) EInsure, to the extent possible, that each order received from a customer which is executable at or near the market price is transmitted to the futures commission merchant carrying the account of the customer before any order in any future or in any commodity option in the same commodity for any proprietary account, any other account in which an affiliated person has an interest, or any account for which an affiliated person may originate orders without the prior specific consent of the account owner, if the affiliated person has gained knowledge of the customer's order prior to the transmission to the floor of the appropriate contract market of the order for a proprietary account, an account in which the affiliated person has an interest, or an account in which the affiliated person may originate orders without the prior specific consent of the account owner; and
(2) Prevent affiliated persons from placing orders, directly or indirectly, with any futures commission merchant in a manner designed to circumvent the provisions of paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(b) No introducing broker or any of its affiliated persons shall:
(1) Disclose that an order of another person is being held by the introducing broker or any of its affiliated persons, unless such disclosure is necessary to the effective execution of such order or is made at the request of an authorized representative of the Commission, the contract market on which such order is to be executed, or a futures association registered with the Commission pursuant to section 17 of the Act; or
(2)(i) Knowingly take, directly or indirectly, the other side of any order of another person revealed to the introducing broker or any of its affiliated persons by reason of their relationship to such other person, except with such other persons's prior consent and in conformity with contract market rules approved by or certified to the Commission.
(ii) In the case of a customer who does not qualify as an “institutional customer” as defined in § 1.3 of this chapter, an introducing broker must obtain the customer's prior consent through a signed acknowledgment, which may be accomplished in accordance with § 1.55(d) of this chapter.
(c) No affiliated person of an introducing broker shall have an account, directly or indirectly, with any futures commission merchant unless:
(1) Such affiliated person receives written authorization to maintain such an account from a person designated by the introducing broker with which such person is affiliated with responsibility for the surveillance over such account pursuant to paragraph (a)(2) of this section; and
(2) Copies of all statements for such account and of all written records prepared by such futures commission merchant upon receipt of orders for such account pursuant to § 155.3(c)(2) are transmitted on a regular basis to the introducing broker with which such person is affiliated.
§§ 155.5-155.6   [Reserved]
§ 155.10   Exemptions.
Except as otherwise provided in this part, the Commission may, in its discretion and upon such terms and conditions as it deems appropriate, exempt any contract market or other person from any of the provisions of this part.