The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued five rule proposals and an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, five of which relate to rulemakings required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The sixth is not mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, and relates to permitted investments of customer funds and funds held in foreign futures accounts.

Anti-Manipulation Rule: Section 753 of the Dodd-Frank Act (which amended section 6(c) of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA)) expanded the CFTC’s anti-manipulation authority. To implement this expanded authority, the CFTC has proposed a new rule, modeled after Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-5, prohibiting certain identified manipulative market practices. The proposed rule would render it illegal, with respect to any market under CFTC jurisdiction, for any person to (1) intentionally or recklessly engage or attempt to engage in a scheme to defraud or any practice which would defraud any person; (2) intentionally or recklessly make or attempt to make an untrue or misleading statement or an omission of material fact; (3) intentionally or recklessly deliver or attempt to deliver (or cause delivery or attempted delivery of) false or misleading crop or marketing information, or a report regarding conditions affecting prices of commodities in interstate commerce; or (4) directly or indirectly manipulate or attempt to manipulate the price of any such instrument.