Securities Regulation Daily Wrap Up, COMMODITY FUTURES—Time extended to comment on 24/7 futures trading and perpetuals referencing physical commodities, (Jul 24, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc. | New York Mercantile Exchange
By Rebecca E. Hoffman, J.D.
The CFTC is allowing an additional 30 days to respond to the request for comment, after adding additional questions.
The CFTC has announced that it is extending the comment period for its proposal involving two distinct but related matters: how markets might respond if standard futures contracts were traded at all hours, and if perpetual contracts referencing physically deliverable or storable energy commodities, such as crude oil, were permitted.
The July 23 notice indicates that the original July 27 deadline will be pushed to August 26, 2026.
“The Commission seeks comment on the implications of each matter for the reliability and manipulation-resistance of reference prices, market surveillance and operational readiness, the federal speculative position-limits regime, margin, clearing, and settlement, customer protection, and effects on the underlying physical markets and the commercial participants that rely on them,” the new request for comment explained.
Added topics. The original request included an extensive list of questions about the potential repercussions of permitting after-hours trading and perpetual contracts. With the extension, the Commission has added three additional topics. One of these concerns the crude oil futures contract that Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s New York Mercantile Exchange had self-certified on July 8. The Commission stayed the listing July 9, directing NYMEX to change the terms of the contract such that it will no longer be traded continuously.
The CFTC is also seeking comment on whether 24/7 trading of smaller-scale contracts referencing the same underlying crude market would spur those holding benchmark futures or related TAS positions to generate a significant position before the market closes at the end of the week or otherwise engage in behavior that will bring about unintended price fluctuations.
Also added is a request that commenters identify changes in personnel and procedures required to support continuous trading, as well as time estimates for putting such changes in place.
The request urged commenters to supplement their responses with empirical data “rather than with conclusory assertions” and to beef up their comments with specifics.
MainStory: TopStory CFTCNews CommodityFutures Derivatives Enforcement ExchangesMarketRegulation Swaps