55 East 52nd Street

New York, NY 10055

BY ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION

Submission No. 23-166

December 14, 2023

Mr. Christopher J. Kirkpatrick

Office of the Secretariat

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20581

Re: Amendments to Softs Calendar Spread Options Incentive Program

Submission Pursuant to Section 5c(c)(1) of the Act and Regulation 40.6

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick:

Pursuant to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Regulation 40.6(a), ICE 

Futures U.S., Inc. (“IFUS” or “Exchange”) hereby submits by written certification, an amendment 

extending the term of the ICE Futures U.S. Softs Calendar Spread Options Incentive Program 

(“Program”), which is set forth in Exhibit A.1 The Exchange believes that the Program, which was 

launched in March of 2021, has incentivized additional liquidity and volume in the covered 

calendar spread options contracts. As such, the Exchange is extending the Program for an 

additional two years. All other Program terms remain unchanged. 

The Exchange certifies that the amended Program complies with the requirements of the 

Commodity Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. In particular, the

Program complies with Core Principle 4 (Monitoring of Trading), Core Principle 9 (Execution of 

Transactions) and Core Principle 12 (Protection of Market Participants). The Program does not 

impact order execution priority or otherwise give participants any execution preference or 

advantage. In addition, the Exchange’s Market Regulation Department actively monitors for 

trading abuses using electronic exception reports and will take appropriate action against any 

participants engaging in market abuses. 

The Exchange is not aware of any opposing views with respect to the amendment, which 

will become effective on January 1, 2024. The Exchange further certifies that, concurrent with this 

1 See ICE Futures U.S. No. Submission 21-183
filing, a notice of pending certification was posted on the Exchange’s website. A copy of this 

submission may be accessed at ((https://www.theice.com/futures-us/regulation#rule-filings). 

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact me at 212-748-4021 

or at jason.fusco@theice.com.

Sincerely,

Jason V. Fusco

Assistant General Counsel

Market Regulation

Enc.

cc: Division of Market Oversight
EXHIBIT A

ICE Futures Softs Calendar Spread Options (“CSO”) Incentive Program

Program Purpose 

The purpose of the Program is to incentivize participants to increase screen liquidity in the 

products listed below; this enhanced liquidity will benefit all participants in the marketplace.

Product Scope

CSO contracts on Sugar No.11, Coffee “C”, Cotton No. 2 and Cocoa futures.

Eligible Participants 

IFUS may designate up to ten participants in the Program, who may be Exchange members or nonmembers. To be considered for selection into the Program, potential participants must not be 

active traders of the covered contracts and must have demonstrated the ability to trade similar 

options contracts on other products at the time of application. 

Program Term 

The Program shall end on December 31, 202[3]5, unless extended by the Exchange. The Exchange 

reserves the right to amend or end the program and/or to terminate any participant at any time 

prior to that date. 

Obligations 

Participants are required to provide the Exchange with information acceptable to the Exchange 

detailing Participants’ trading activity under the program, and the Exchange may require an 

additional third-party verification report. 

Program Incentives 

[PARAGRAPH REDACTED]

Monitoring and Termination of Status 

The Exchange shall monitor trading activity and Participants’ performance and shall retain the 

right to revoke Participants’ status if it concludes from review that a Program Participant has failed 

to meet its obligations or no longer meets the eligibility requirements of this Program.