NFA’s efforts to ridicule the mandate it has been given by the CFTC have finally reached the point where it simply becomes absurd. It appears that the agency has no idea what it should be doing or what the results of its actions are.
If I wasn’t sure that the NFA could care less about whether its requirements are what the market really needs or whether it harms the traders more than it benefits them, now I’ve become confident that the NFA has completely lost it. They have absolutely no idea what forex is or what its role as a regulator should be.
In another chapter that will surely be written in a book about one absurd US regulatory agency, it will say that not only the NFA imposed a completely nonsensical requirement (FIFO) but that it also had no idea how to make sure it was implemented correctly, moreover it had no idea that basic knowledge of forex is required in order to regulate forex.
NFA has sent out a raging email to US brokers complaining that they have disseminated ‘false’ and ‘misleading’ information about its recent requirements. DOH! What did you expect would happen? The only thing the NFA did to make sure brokers knew what the hell they wanted was to send a laconic document explaining the reasons for the decision. This ridiculous document had absolutely no explanation of how this should be implemented and had absolutely no understanding that demanding FIFO compliance would result in Stop and Limit Orders being severely affected as well?
Wouldn’t it have been much easier to gather all the brokers and explain to them that you would like to stop the hedging practices and ask them what would be the smartest way to do that? Or maybe you should have sent an email telling the brokers to stop accepting hedging orders instead of inventing the first in first out requirement which seems nice on paper but in fact caused a software fiasco?
This is the email the NFA sent to US brokers. Read it yourself and cry or laugh or whatever you think is appropriate:
Communication with the Public Relating to NFA Compliance Rule 2-43
NFA has become aware of false or misleading blog entries and e-mails to customers stating or implying that NFA has banned stop orders and limit orders. As you know, Compliance Rule 2-43(b) does not prohibit either type of order but simply requires that executed stops and offsetting limit orders be applied to the oldest open position or, at the customer’s direction, to the oldest open same-size position.
Please ensure that neither your employees nor any firms or individuals that introduce forex business to or manage forex accounts carried by your firm are spreading misleading information about the effect of Compliance Rule 2-43. As you are aware, under NFA Compliance Rule 2-36(d), an FDM is subject to discipline for the activities of persons who solicit, introduce, or manage customer accounts. Therefore, NFA will not hesitate to file an enforcement action against any FDM with an introducer or account manager that initiates, spreads, or condones statements that convey false information.
Hi Michael,
I agree it was a PR disaster. As both a trader, educator and someone from an MPA background familiar with the machinery of bureaucracy, what it screamed loudest was the absence of proper mechanisms for consultation, both with brokers and retail traders themselves. If you have any capacity to influence public policy or industry policy to ensure there is some kind of representative equity at public policy level in particular, that would be a good thing.
When public policy decisions go astray, it’s an opportunity to get the drawing board out and look at how it can be done better in future. Most public agencies these days do seek to have full and proper consultation mechanisms in place. That this industry currently lacks in that area, shows.
Keep up the great work Michael, you perform a very valuable service for retail traders.