CFTC Proposes Speculative Position Limits – Again

On November 5, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC" or "Commission") proposed new speculative position limits. The proposal ("New Proposal") would establish spot-month and non-spot-month limits for 28 core physical commodity contracts and their "economically equivalent" futures, options, and swaps (collectively, "referenced contracts"). The CFTC had finalized position limits in a 2011 rulemaking ("2011 Rule"), but a federal court vacated the 2011 Rule. The New Proposal constitutes the Commission's latest effort under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank") to establish federal position limits for specified physical commodity contracts beyond those already in place for certain agricultural contracts. The New Proposal would institute a position limits regime largely identical to that prescribed by the 2011 Rule, with some exceptions. The Commission approved the New Proposal for publication in the Federal Register by