Notices to Members

March 23, 2007

Effective Date of Amendments to the Interpretive Notice Regarding Forex Transactions

Amendments to the supervision and promotional material sections of NFA's Interpretive Notice entitled "Forex Transactions" became effective on March 7, 2007. The amendments were recently approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The amendments clarify that the same principles govern supervision and promotional materials for both on-exchange and off-exchange transactions. Additionally, there are certain practices unique to forex that the amendments explicitly identify as deceptive and misleading.

Among other things, the amendments make clear that testimonials in forex promotional material, just as those relating to on-exchange trading, must be representative of comparable accounts, state that past results are no guarantee of future success, and identify that the testimonial was provided in return for compensation (if that is the case). Additionally, the amendments explain that, as NFA has consistently held with regard to on-exchange trading, statements of opinion are misleading if they are not clearly identified as statements of opinion or they do not have a reasonable basis in fact. The amendments also require that certain radio and television advertisements be submitted to NFA for review and prior approval, as is required for Members offering on-exchange trading.

The amendments also identify issues unique to dealer markets, such as "no-slippage" or "guaranteed fills." The amendments provide that a Member may not make such claims unless it can demonstrate that all orders for all customers have been executed and fulfilled at the price quoted on the platform when the order was placed and it does not have the authority to adjust customer accounts in a manner that would have the direct or indirect effect of changing the price at which an order was executed.

The current requirements, as amended, have been incorporated into NFA's electronic rulebook, which is located on NFA's Web site (www.nfa.futures.org [hyperlink updated 1/24/2022]). NFA's November 21, 2006, submission letter to the CFTC contains a more detailed explanation of the changes and includes a copy of the relevant sections with the amendments marked. You can access an electronic copy of the submission letter at www.nfa.futures.org/news/newsRuleSubLetter.asp?ArticleID=1702.

Questions concerning these changes should be directed to Sharon Pendleton, Director Compliance (spendleton@nfa.futures.org or 312-658-6540) or Erin Mattes, Manager Compliance (emattes@nfa.futures.org or 312-781-2236).