What Commodity Futures Trading Commission does

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent U.S. federal regulatory agency established in 1974 under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. The agency holds exclusive federal jurisdiction over U.S. derivatives markets — futures, options, and significant swaps — overseeing a market exceeding $400 trillion in notional swaps value and monitoring more than 20 major exchanges including CME, CBOE, ICE, Nodal Exchange, and Coinbase Derivatives. The CFTC regulates registered entities across multiple categories: Designated Contract Markets (DCMs), Derivatives Clearing Organizations (DCOs), Swap Execution Facilities (SEFs), Swap Data Repositories (SDRs), and intermediaries including Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs), Introducing Brokers, Commodity Pool Operators (CPOs), and Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs).

The agency's operational technology stack includes market surveillance systems that identify Commodity Exchange Act violations, a Commitments of Traders (COT) Public Reporting Environment with API access (historical data back to 1986, supporting CSV, RDF, RSS, TSV, XML downloads), and AI-powered tools including Chainalysis for blockchain tracing and Nasdaq Smarts for market abuse detection. The CFTC has published an AI Compliance Plan and AI Use Case Inventory and operates with a Chief Data Scientist and Chief Data Innovation Officer. It disseminates weekly market data products (COT reports, Weekly Swaps reports, Bank Participation reports, Cotton On-Call, Cleared Margin reports, FCM financial data) and operates a Whistleblower Program with awards up to 30 percent of sanctions exceeding $1 million.

Unlike commercial enterprises, the CFTC is funded entirely through congressional appropriations and does not generate revenue through market transactions. Its reach extends to market participants and the public through formal rulemaking, public comment periods, advisory committees (Agricultural, Energy/Environmental, Global Markets, Market Risk, Innovation, and CFTC-SEC Joint), congressional testimony, and enforcement actions. Under Chairman Michael S. Selig (sworn in December 22, 2025), the agency has accelerated its regulatory agenda around crypto assets, prediction markets, perpetual futures contracts, and AI, while operating with approximately 543 employees — roughly 20-25 percent below prior staffing levels — and only one confirmed Commissioner out of five authorized positions.

Name

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Legal name

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Website

https://cftc.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is an independent U.S. federal regulatory agency that oversees U.S. derivatives markets — including futures, options, and swaps — by regulating exchanges, clearing organizations, swap execution facilities, swap data repositories, and intermediaries serving farmers, financial institutions, and emerging crypto/prediction market participants.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Regulatory Services

NAICS

Regulation of Agricultural Marketing and Commodities (92614), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (523210), Securities and Commodity Exchanges (52321)

SIC

Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Commodity Derivatives (Energy, Metals, Ags) (FSACADAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

OTC Derivatives Trade Repositories (Swaps/Derivatives Reporting) (FSAFAJAA), Commodity Derivatives Exchanges (Futures & Options on Commodities) (FSAFAMAG)

Keywords

• Derivatives market regulation
• Futures market oversight
• Swap market regulation
• Financial market surveillance
• Commodities regulatory agency

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Appropriations: Primary funding through congressional appropriations as a federal regulatory agency, with annual budget allocations determined through the federal budget process.
2. Registration and Filing Fees: Fees collected from registered entities including derivatives clearing organizations, designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, and swap data repositories.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is a U.S. federal regulatory agency that oversees derivatives markets including futures, options, and swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act. It promotes market integrity through surveillance of 20+ major exchanges, enforcement against fraud and manipulation, registration of market intermediaries, publication of market data products (COT reports, Swaps reports, Bank Participation reports), administration of whistleblower and reparations programs, and development of regulatory frameworks for emerging markets including crypto assets, prediction markets, and AI-driven trading.

Product overview

The CFTC is a U.S. federal regulatory agency overseeing derivatives markets. It offers market data products including Commitments of Traders (COT) reports, Weekly Swaps reports, Bank Participation reports, Cotton On-Call reports, and Financial Data for FCMs. The COT Public Reporting Environment provides API access for programmatic data retrieval. The agency also administers regulatory services including the Whistleblower Program (offering financial incentives for reporting violations) and Reparations Program (customer dispute resolution). The Innovation Task Force focuses on regulatory frameworks for crypto assets, blockchain, AI, and prediction markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Commitments of Traders Reports Weekly reports providing breakdown of open interest for futures and options markets where 20 or more traders hold positions at or above reporting levels. Includes Legacy, Disaggregated, Traders in Financial Futures, and Supplemental reports. Used by traders, analysts, and commercial hedgers for market positioning analysis.
• Weekly Swaps Report Comprehensive swap market data published weekly on Mondays at 3:30pm EST, providing transparency into the over $400 trillion swaps market. Used by market participants and analysts for swaps market oversight.
• Bank Participation Reports Monthly reports containing aggregate large-trader positions of banks in financial and non-financial commodity futures, used by analysts monitoring bank involvement in derivatives markets.
• Cotton On-Call Report Weekly report showing quantity of call cotton bought or sold on which price has not been fixed, together with futures prices on which purchases and sales are based. Used by cotton industry participants for price risk analysis.
• Financial Data for FCMs Selected financial information from futures commission merchants and retail foreign exchange dealers monthly financial reports. Used by analysts monitoring the financial condition of registered intermediaries.
• Cleared Margin Reports Summary information for derivatives clearing organizations from daily initial margin data, providing transparency into clearing margin practices across the derivatives clearing system.
• COT Public Reporting Environment Web-based platform providing API access to customize, search, filter, and download Commitments of Traders report data including Legacy, CIT, Disaggregated, and Traders in Financial Futures reports with historical data back to 1986. Data available in CSV, RDF, RSS, TSV, or XML formats.
• Whistleblower Program Program established by the Dodd-Frank Act providing monetary incentives for individuals to report possible violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, with anti-retaliation protections and awards up to 30 percent of sanctions exceeding $1 million. Available to any individual with information about potential CEA violations.
• Reparations Program Administrative forum for customers seeking damages for losses from misconduct of registered trading professionals violating the Commodity Exchange Act. Used by retail and commercial customers seeking redress for trading-related misconduct.

Quantifiable outcome

• Oversight of over $400 trillion in swaps market
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 June 2026The CFTC and SEC issue joint requests for public comment on derivatives product definitions under Dodd-Frank Title VII, coordinate on regulatory harmonization, and jointly oversee security futures products. The agencies issued a joint interpretive release on crypto asset taxonomy in March 2026.
• States (Minnesota, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Wisconsin)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2026CFTC is in active litigation with multiple states over jurisdictional authority for prediction markets, with CFTC arguing federal preemption of state gambling laws under the Supremacy Clause.
• Federal Reserve BoardmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2026Trump Executive Order directed Federal Reserve to evaluate within 120 days whether non-bank financial companies including digital asset firms can obtain direct access to Federal Reserve payment accounts, coordinated with CFTC digital asset oversight.
• CFTC-SEC Joint Advisory CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 April 2026Joint advisory committee focused on harmonizing regulatory oversight between the two agencies, reducing duplicative regulation, and providing market clarity.
• Department of Justice (DOJ)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2026CFTC and DOJ coordinate on enforcement actions against insider trading, market manipulation, and fraud cases including joint investigations of suspicious oil futures trades and prediction market insider trading cases.
• Innovation Advisory CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 April 2026Advisory committee providing input on innovation issues including crypto assets, blockchain, AI, and prediction markets to inform CFTC regulatory policy.
• International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFTC participates in IOSCO for international regulatory coordination and standard-setting for derivatives markets globally.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): The SEC is the U.S. federal securities markets regulator and CFTC's closest peer, jointly issuing interpretive releases on crypto assets and coordinating on derivatives product definitions under Dodd-Frank. Both agencies oversee overlapping segments of U.S. financial markets and share enforcement jurisdictions.
• National Futures Association (NFA): The NFA is the U.S. self-regulatory organization for the futures industry, designated by the CFTC to provide regulatory services for FCMs, CPOs, CTAs, and introducing brokers. As the CFTC's designated SRO, NFA is the most directly comparable operational peer.

Broad incumbents

• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA): FINRA is a self-regulatory organization overseeing broker-dealers and securities intermediaries, comparable to the CFTC's oversight of FCMs, IBs, CPOs, and CTAs. Both organizations enforce registration, capital, and reporting requirements on financial intermediaries.
• U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA): The FCA regulates derivatives, securities, and crypto-asset activities in the United Kingdom, providing a comparable cross-border regulatory peer through IOSCO coordination and similar enforcement priorities in swaps and market integrity.
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC): The OCC regulates national banks and federal savings associations, including their derivatives activities that interact with CFTC-supervised markets. Both agencies coordinate on bank participation in commodities and swaps markets.
• Federal Reserve Board: The Federal Reserve Board coordinates with CFTC on systemic risk in derivatives markets and was recently directed by executive order to evaluate non-bank financial firms' access to payment accounts—a process being coordinated with CFTC digital asset oversight.
• European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA): ESMA coordinates EU-wide derivatives and securities regulation, including through EMIR for swap data repositories and MiFID II/MiFIR for trading venues. As an international peer through IOSCO, ESMA's approach to crypto and derivatives regulation informs CFTC's cross-border coordination.
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): The FDIC oversees insured depository institutions and participates in interagency coordination with the CFTC on derivatives-related banking activities, including proposed Federal Reserve access for digital asset firms.

Regional players

• Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA): JFSA regulates Japan's derivatives and crypto-asset markets, providing a regional peer through IOSCO. Both agencies face similar challenges regulating retail-accessible derivatives and emerging prediction-market products.

Emerging players

• Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): MAS regulates Singapore's derivatives and emerging crypto-asset markets through comparable licensing frameworks and is an active IOSCO peer. Its approach to payment services and tokenized assets parallels CFTC's Innovation Task Force agenda.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cftc
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/CFTC
• Facebookfacebook.com/cftcgov
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/27754

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Commodity Futures Trading Commission