ABSTRACT
Th e Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was created in conjunction with the Commodity Exchange Act of 1974 to regulate the U.S. futures markets (see Fung and Hsieh, 1999, for an evolutionary history of the legal environment of hedge funds). Th e CFTC is an independent federal regulatory authority with the legal responsibility to ensure that futures trading serves a valuable economic purpose, to guarantee the integrity of the market and the clearing process, and to protect the interests of futures market participants from market manipulation, misuse, and fraud. Th e CFTC is represented at the largest futures exchanges: Washington, DC (its headquarters); New York; Chicago; and Kansas City (https://www.cft c.gov/).
