Positions that comply with § 150.3(a)(2)(i) or (ii) may exceed Federal speculative position limits, provided that the entity separately requests a spread transaction exemption from the relevant exchange's position limits established pursuant to proposed § 150.5(a). The following provides guidance to exchanges and market participants on the use of spread transaction exemptions granted pursuant to § 150.5(a). Exchanges and market participants may also consider this guidance for purposes of spread transaction exemptions granted pursuant to § 150.5(b). The following guidance includes recommendations for exchanges and market participants to consider when granting or relying on spread transaction exemptions for positions that include referenced contracts that are subject to Federal speculative position limits.

(a) General guidance on spread transaction exemptions for referenced contracts. (1) When granting spread transaction exemptions pursuant to § 150.5(a), an exchange should:

(i) Collect sufficient information from the market participant to be able to:

(A) Understand the spread strategy, consistent with § 150.5(a)(2)(ii)(A); and

(B) Verify that there is a material economic relationship between the legs of the spread transaction, consistent with the requirement in § 150.5(a)(2)(ii)(G) to grant exemptions in accordance with sound commercial practices;

(ii) Consider whether granting the spread transaction exemption would, to the maximum extent practicable:

(A) Ensure sufficient market liquidity for bona fide hedgers; and

(B) Not unduly reduce the effectiveness of Federal speculative position limits to:

(1) Diminish, eliminate, or prevent excessive speculation;

(2) Deter and prevent market manipulations, squeezes, and corners; and

(3) Ensure that the price discovery function of the underlying market is not disrupted;

(iii) Consider implementing safeguards to ensure that when granting spread transaction exemptions, especially during the spot period, the exchange is able to comply with all statutory and regulatory obligations, including the requirements of:

(A) DCM Core Principle 2 and SEF Core Principle 2, as applicable, to, among other things, prohibit abusive trading practices on its markets by members and market participants, and prohibit any other manipulative or disruptive trading practices prohibited by the Act or Commission regulations;

(B) DCM Core Principle 4 and SEF Core Principle 4, as applicable, to prevent manipulation, price distortion, and disruptions of the delivery or cash-settlement process through market surveillance, compliance, and enforcement practices and procedures;

(C) DCM Core Principle 5 and SEF Core Principle 6, as applicable, to implement exchange-set position limits in a manner that reduces the potential threat of market manipulation or congestion; and

(D) DCM Core Principle 12, as applicable, to protect markets and market participants from abusive practices committed by any party, including abusive practices committed by a party acting as an agent for a participant; and to promote fair and equitable trading on the contract market;

(iv) Ensure that any spread exemption transaction does not impede convergence or facilitate the formation of artificial prices; and

(v) Provide a cap or limit on the maximum size of all gross positions permitted under the spread transaction exemption.

(2) The Commission reminds market participants that when utilizing a spread transaction exemption, compliance with Federal speculative position limits or an exemption thereto does not confer any type of safe harbor or good faith defense to a claim that the participant has engaged in an attempted or perfected manipulation or willfully circumvented or evaded speculative position limits, consistent with the Commission's anti-evasion provision in § 150.2(i).

(b) Guidance on transactions permitted under the spread transaction definition. (1) The Commission understands that market participants are generally familiar with the meaning of intra-market spreads, inter-market spreads, intra-commodity spreads, and inter-commodity spreads, as those terms are used in the spread transaction definition in § 150.1. However, for the avoidance of confusion, the Commission provides the following descriptions of such spread strategies to assist exchanges in their analysis of whether a spread position complies with the spread transaction definition. The Commission generally understands that the following spread strategies are typically defined as follows:

(i) Intra-market spread means a long (short) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in a particular commodity, or its products or by-products, and a short (long) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in the same, or similar, commodity, or its products or by-products, on the same designated contract market or swap execution facility.

(ii)Inter-market spread means a long (short) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in a particular commodity, or its products or by-products, at a particular designated contract market or swap execution facility and a short (long) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in that same, or similar, commodity, or its products or by-products, away from that particular designated contract market or swap execution facility.

(iii) Intra-commodity spread means a long (short) position in one or more commodity derivatives contracts in a particular commodity, or its product or by-products, and a short (long) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in the same, or similar, commodity, or its products or by-products.

(iv) Inter-commodity spread means a long (short) position in one or more commodity derivatives contracts in a particular commodity, or its product or by-products, and a short (long) position in one or more commodity derivative contracts in a different commodity or its products or by-products.

(2) The following is a non-exhaustive list of spread strategies that comply with the spread transaction definition in § 150.1:

(i) An inter-market spread transaction in which the legs of the transaction are futures contracts in the same, or similar commodity, or its products or its by-products, and same calendar month or expiration;

(ii) A spread transaction in which one leg is a referenced contract, as defined in § 150.1, and the other leg is a commodity derivative contract, as defined in § 150.1, that is not a referenced contract (including over-the-counter commodity derivative contracts);

(iii) A spread transaction between a physically-settled contract and a cash-settled contract;

(iv) A spread transaction between two cash-settled contracts; and

(v) Spread transactions that are “legged in,” that is, carried out in two steps, or alternatively are “combination trades,” that is, all components of the spread are executed simultaneously or contemporaneously.

(3) A spread transaction exemption cannot be used to exceed the conditional spot month limit exemption, in § 150.3(a)(4), for positions in natural gas.

(4) The spread transaction definition does not include a single cash-settled agreement, contract or transaction that, by its terms and conditions:

(i) Simply represents the difference (or basis) between the settlement price of a referenced contract and the settlement price of another contract, agreement, or transaction (whether or not a referenced contract), and

(ii) Does not comprise separate long and short positions.

(5) The spread transaction definition does not include a spread position involving a commodity index contract and one or more referenced contracts.

(c) Guidance on cash-and-carry exemptions. The spread transaction definition in § 150.1 would permit transactions commonly known as “cash-and-carry” trades whereby a market participant enters a long futures position in the spot month and an equivalent short futures position in the following month, in order to guarantee a return that, at minimum, covers the costs of its carrying charges, such as the cost of financing, insuring, and storing the physical inventory until the next expiration (including insurance, storage fees, and financing costs, as well as other costs such as aging discounts that are specific to individual commodities). With this exemption, the market participant is able to take physical delivery of the product in the nearby month and may redeliver the same product in a deferred month. When determining whether to grant, and when monitoring, cash-and-carry spread transaction exemptions, the exchange should consider:

(1) Implementing safeguards to require a market participant relying on such an exemption to reduce its position below the speculative Federal position limit within a timely manner once market prices no longer permit entry into a full carry transaction;

(2) Implementing safeguards that require market participants to liquidate all long positions in the nearby contract month before the price of the nearby contract month rises to a premium to the second (2nd) contract month; and

(3) Requiring market participants that seek to rely on such exemption to:

(i) Provide information about their expected cost of carrying the physical commodity, and the quantity of stocks currently owned in exchange-licensed warehouses or tank facilities; and

(ii) Agree that before the price of the nearby contract month rises to a premium to the second (2nd) contract month, the market participant will liquidate all long positions in the nearby contract month.

[86 FR 3475, Jan. 14, 2021]