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The FIA Principal Traders Group today issued the following statement regarding the publication by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission of their joint staff report on the market disruption that occurred on May 6, 2010.
The FIA Principal Traders Group welcomes the joint staff report and commends the staffs of the two agencies for their thorough analysis. By providing a factual basis for discussion, the report makes an important contribution to the public debate on how to make markets safer in the future.
One important step regulators can take, as highlighted in the recommendations on market access risk controls that the Futures Industry Association published in April, is to promote trade certainty in exchange error trade policies. The FIA PTG is pleased to note that the joint staff report identified trade certainty as one of its “lessons learned.”
The events of May 6 were not acceptable. The FIA PTG looks forward to continuing our member firms' cooperation with regulators in helping to identify sensible steps that can be taken to improve market quality and make markets safer for all participants. In evaluating any potential policy responses to the events of May 6, the FIA PTG encourages regulators to base their deliberations on empirical evidence and rigorous analysis.
The FIA Principal Traders Group provides a forum for firms trading their own capital to identify and discuss issues confronting the PTG community. The group also works to define common positions on public policy issues and advance the group’s collective interests through the FIA; improve public understanding of the constructive role played by the wide variety of individual trading groups in the exchange-traded derivatives markets; and promote cost-effective, transparent access to U.S. and non-U.S. markets.
The Futures Industry Association is a principal spokesman for the commodity futures and options industry. The FIA’s regular membership is comprised of approximately 30 of the largest futures commission merchants in the U.S. The FIA’s associate members include representatives from virtually all other segments of the futures industry, both national and international.
