NFA Membership and Dues

All registered FCMs, IBs, CPOs and those registered CTAs who manage or exercise discretion over customer accounts must be Members of NFA in order to conduct futures business with the public.

Persons acting as APs of NFA Members must become NFA Associates.

Mandatory membership is the cornerstone of NFA's regulatory structure, and effective industry wide self-regulation is not possible without it. NFA Bylaw 1101 very clearly prohibits the conduct of customer business with non-NFA Members. Members have to be especially diligent not to violate Bylaw 1101. They must examine the relationships they have with other registrants, with customers, with third-party account controllers, with branch offices and so on, to determine that they are in compliance.

Application forms for NFA membership and Associate membership are incorporated in Forms 7-R and 8-R. AP applicants automatically apply for Associate membership when the Form 8-R is filed if their sponsor is or becomes an NFA Member.

NFA Membership Totals

Member firms are required to pay annual membership dues as part of a firm's annual filings and are subject to a late payment charge of $25.00 per month if paid after the date that they are payable. Dues should be paid in only one category-the category to which the highest dues apply. For example, an NFA Member that is an FCM and also a CTA and has an exchange as its Designated Self-Regulatory Organization would pay dues of $ 1,500.00 (the FCM category is the higher dues-paying category). Listed below is NFA Membership Annual Dues Schedule: 

NFA Membership Annual Dues Schedule

*FCM Forex Dealer Member dues will be assessed on membership renewal date; regular FCM dues apply to initial application.

Note: All NFA Member dues are non-refundable.

In addition to annual membership dues Bylaw 1301 also requires Forex Dealer Members  to pay an annual fee based on the highest number of unregulated solicitors and account managers that they were responsible for at any given time for the 12 month period preceding the Members' annual dues notice. The following table lists the fee levels.