Commodity Futures Trading Commission September 30, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Recently, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission,'' or ``CFTC'') has been confronted with the question of how to treat certain transactions on fractional undivided interests, or shares, in single commodity investment products referred to as exchange traded funds (``ETF'' or ``ETFs''),\1\ primarily in the metals complex. The ETFs have in all relevant instances been structured as trusts (singularly, ``ETF Trust'' or ``Trust''),\2\ the assets of which consist of holdings of one specific physical commodity.\3\ The explicit and sole investment objective of each of these ETF Trusts is to track as nearly as possible the spot price of the underlying physical commodity less the expenses of trust operations. The listing of these ETF shares provides shareholders with efficient exposure to commodity market price movements.\4\ These Precious Metal Commodity-Based ETFs have primarily focused on holding either gold or silver, with a recent expansion into palladium and platinum. The Commission has issued Orders pursuant to Section 4(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (the ``Act'') permitting the trading and clearing of certain transactions on these Trusts as, respectively, options on securities and security futures.\5\ The Previous Orders have provided exemptions from certain provisions of the Act, or the Commission's regulations thereunder, which might have been transgressed by trading or clearing, among other things, options and futures on Commodity-Based ETFs. The exemption mechanism has enabled the Commission to reserve judgment as to the jurisdictional classification (i.e. commodity or security) of Commodity-Based ETFs and options and futures on Commodity-Based ETFs while at the same time providing a mechanism to ensure both that the Commission's regulatory oversight needs are satisfied (whether through regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (``SEC'') or by attaching conditions to the exemption orders) and that novel products may be introduced without undue delay for market participant and investor use.