CFTC set to block CME bid for round-the-clock oil contracts
WASHINGTON, July 23. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to block CME Group's attempt to fast-track approval of oil futures contracts designed to trade around the clock, according to reports. The anticipated move comes after CME Group, the world's biggest derivatives exchange, filed a lawsuit against the CFTC over the agency's approval of crypto products.
Key takeaways
- The CFTC plans to block CME Group's request to fast-track approval of oil futures contracts designed to trade around the clock, according to reports.
- CME Group had sought an expedited approval route to list continuous, round-the-clock oil futures, which would extend beyond standard defined market hours.
- The anticipated CFTC refusal closes the accelerated approval path for the products.
- CME Group, the world's biggest derivatives exchange, had earlier filed a lawsuit against the CFTC over the agency's approval of crypto products.
- The crypto lawsuit remains pending and marks a separate, longer-running conflict between the exchange and its primary regulator.
WASHINGTON, July 23. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to block CME Group's attempt to fast-track approval of oil futures contracts designed to trade around the clock, according to reports. The anticipated move comes after CME Group, the world's biggest derivatives exchange, filed a lawsuit against the CFTC over the agency's approval of crypto products.
CFTC plans to deny the fast-track request
CME Group sought an expedited approval route to list round-the-clock oil futures. Standard oil contracts trade during defined market hours; a continuous version would extend that access. The CFTC plans to refuse the fast-track request, according to reports, closing that accelerated path for the products.
Fast-track approvals allow an exchange to bring new contracts to market more quickly than the standard regulatory timeline permits. Whether CME Group intends to pursue round-the-clock oil trading through a standard process was not addressed in available reports.
Lawsuit frames the conflict
CME Group filed suit against the CFTC before the oil contract dispute arose. That lawsuit challenged the agency's approval of crypto products, placing the world's biggest derivatives exchange in active litigation with the regulator that governs its markets.
The block on the oil contract fast-track comes while that case is still pending. The crypto lawsuit and the oil contract denial now mark two separate points of conflict between the exchange and its primary regulator.
Where the disputes stand
CME Group is the world's biggest derivatives exchange. Its legal challenge against the CFTC over crypto approvals came first; the regulator's anticipated refusal on the round-the-clock oil contracts arrived after that suit was already filed.
The CFTC's move closes the expedited route. The crypto lawsuit, brought by the exchange against the agency responsible for overseeing its markets, remains the longer-running dispute.