§1a. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) Board of trade
The term "board of trade" means any exchange or association, whether incorporated or unincorporated, of persons who are engaged in the business of buying or selling any commodity or receiving the same for sale on consignment.
(2) Commission
The term "Commission" means the Commodity Futures Trading Commission established under section 4a(a) of this title.
(3) Commodity
The term "commodity" means wheat, cotton, rice, corn, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed, grain sorghums, mill feeds, butter, eggs, Solanum tuberosum (Irish potatoes), wool, wool tops, fats and oils (including lard, tallow, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, and all other fats and oils), cottonseed meal, cottonseed, peanuts, soybeans, soybean meal, livestock, livestock products, and frozen concentrated orange juice, and all other goods and articles, except onions as provided in section 13–1 of this title, and all services, rights, and interests in which contracts for future delivery are presently or in the future dealt in.
(4) Commodity pool operator
The term "commodity pool operator" means any person engaged in a business that is of the nature of an investment trust, syndicate, or similar form of enterprise, and who, in connection therewith, solicits, accepts, or receives from others, funds, securities, or property, either directly or through capital contributions, the sale of stock or other forms of securities, or otherwise, for the purpose of trading in any commodity for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any contract market, except that the term does not include such persons not within the intent of the definition of the term as the Commission may specify by rule, regulation, or order.
(5) Commodity trading advisor
(A) In general
Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, the term "commodity trading advisor" means any person who-
(i) for compensation or profit, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications, writings, or electronic media, as to the value of or the advisability of trading in-
(I) any contract of sale of a commodity for future delivery made or to be made on or subject to the rules of a contract market;
(II) any commodity option authorized under section 6c of this title; or
(III) any leverage transaction authorized under section 23 of this title; or
(ii) for compensation or profit, and as part of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning any of the activities referred to in clause (i).
(B) Exclusions
Subject to subparagraph (C), the term "commodity trading advisor" does not include-
(i) any bank or trust company or any person acting as an employee thereof;
(ii) any news reporter, news columnist, or news editor of the print or electronic media, or any lawyer, accountant, or teacher;
(iii) any floor broker or futures commission merchant;
(iv) the publisher or producer of any print or electronic data of general and regular dissemination, including its employees;
(v) the fiduciary of any defined benefit plan that is subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.);
(vi) any contract market; and
(vii) such other persons not within the intent of this paragraph as the Commission may specify by rule, regulation, or order.
(C) Incidental services
Subparagraph (B) shall apply only if the furnishing of such services by persons referred to in subparagraph (B) is solely incidental to the conduct of their business or profession.
(D) Advisors
The Commission, by rule or regulation, may include within the term "commodity trading advisor", any person advising as to the value of commodities or issuing reports or analyses concerning commodities if the Commission determines that the rule or regulation will effectuate the purposes of this paragraph.
(6) Contract of sale
The term "contract of sale" includes sales, agreements of sale, and agreements to sell.
(7) Cooperative association of producers
The term "cooperative association of producers" means any cooperative association, corporate, or otherwise, not less than 75 percent in good faith owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by producers of agricultural products and otherwise complying with sections 291 and 292 of this title, including any organization acting for a group of such associations and owned or controlled by such associations, except that business done for or with the United States, or any agency thereof, shall not be considered either member or nonmember business in determining the compliance of any such association with this chapter.
(8) Floor broker
The term "floor broker" means any person who, in or surrounding any pit, ring, post, or other place provided by a contract market for the meeting of persons similarly engaged, shall purchase or sell for any other person any commodity for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any contract market.
(9) Floor trader
The term "floor trader" means any person who, in or surrounding any pit, ring, post, or other place provided by a contract market for the meeting of persons similarly engaged, purchases, or sells solely for such person's own account, any commodity for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any contract market.
(10) Foreign futures authority
The term "foreign futures authority" means any foreign government, or any department, agency, governmental body, or regulatory organization empowered by a foreign government to administer or enforce a law, rule, or regulation as it relates to a futures or options matter, or any department or agency of a political subdivision of a foreign government empowered to administer or enforce a law, rule, or regulation as it relates to a futures or options matter.
(11) Future delivery
The term "future delivery" does not include any sale of any cash commodity for deferred shipment or delivery.
(12) Futures commission merchant
The term "futures commission merchant" means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust that-
(A) is engaged in soliciting or in accepting orders for the purchase or sale of any commodity for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any contract market; and
(B) in or in connection with such solicitation or acceptance of orders, accepts any money, securities, or property (or extends credit in lieu thereof) to margin, guarantee, or secure any trades or contracts that result or may result therefrom.
(13) Interstate commerce
The term "interstate commerce" means commerce-
(A) between any State, territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or
(B) between points within the same state,1 territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, but through any place outside thereof, or within any territory or possession, or the District of Columbia.
(14) Introducing broker
The term "introducing broker" means any person (except an individual who elects to be and is registered as an associated person of a futures commission merchant) engaged in soliciting or in accepting orders for the purchase or sale of any commodity for future delivery on or subject to the rules of any contract market who does not accept any money, securities, or property (or extend credit in lieu thereof) to margin, guarantee, or secure any trades or contracts that result or may result therefrom.
(15) Member of a contract market
The term "member of a contract market" means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust owning or holding membership in, or admitted to membership representation on, a contract market or given members' trading privileges thereon.
(16) Person
The term "person" imports the plural or singular, and includes individuals, associations, partnerships, corporations, and trusts.
(Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 369, §1a, as added
References in Text
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, referred to in par. (5)(B)(v), is
Effective Date
Section 403 of