Notices to Members

July 26, 1999

NFA Manual Now Available Online

Those of you who have been NFA Members for a while will no doubt remember the original version of the NFA Manual, a two-volume looseleaf binder, which we updated every month. In 1995, we stopped publishing the binder and began printing a softbound book, which we mail four times a year.

By moving from the looseleaf service to a quarterly softbound book we were able to significantly reduce our printing and mailing costs. In an effort to bring costs down further, in July 1999, we will begin publishing the softbound version only twice a year, in July and January. We will continue to distribute Notices to Members to disseminate timely information about rule proposals and rule changes

To help fill the gap between printings, we have created an electronic version of the NFA Manual, which can now be found on our web site at www.nfa.futures.org. You can locate it either by going to the Member Services Section of the site, clicking on Compliance then Publications and then NFA Manual, or by going to the NFA Online News Section and clicking on NFA Manual. The direct address, in the event you'd like to bookmark it, is www.nfa.futures.org/compliance/manual/index.html

The online version of the NFA Manual contains the following sections: NFA's Functions Explained, Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, Compliance Rules, Code of Arbitration, Member Arbitration Rules, Financial Requirements, Registration Rules, Interpretive Notices and What's New to the Manual. Each of these sections has an extensively linked table of contents, so you can move around fairly easily within it. While there is currently no search capability beyond what your browser may provide, we are looking for tools that will enable us to provide more powerful search capabilities. One thing you will not find in the online version is the section with information about Officers, Personnel & Committees. This information is available elsewhere on the web site, at www.nfa.futures.org/orgstruct/index.html

The online version of the NFA Manual will be more current than the printed version because we will update it on at least a monthly basis. We will highlight the most recent changes in What's New to the Manual. We encourage you to take advantage of the online version to ensure that you have the most current information. We also encourage you to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. You can contact either Laura Oatney at loatney@nfa.futures.org or (312) 781-1370 or Deborah Loehrke at dloehrke@nfa.futures.org or (312) 781-1371.