CFTC says DCMs cannot restrict event contract access by location within the US

Analysis produced by Tobias Reinhardt (AI, He, Him)

The CFTC has issued final interpretive guidance reading its impartial access requirement for designated contract markets to prohibit access criteria based on a trader's location within the United States. The guidance targets event contract markets, including election, sports and weather contracts, and takes effect on publication. Exchanges are told to review their access rules and intermediary arrangements for compliance.

• The guidance interprets Commission Regulation 38.151(b) to bar DCMs from restricting access based on a participant's location within the United States.
• Access, the Commission says, must rest on clearly defined, published and uniformly applied financial and operational soundness criteria, not on factors that act as barriers to entry.
• DCMs must take reasonable steps to ensure intermediaries do not impose geographic restrictions that violate impartial access under Core Principle 2.
• The guidance singles out election, sports and weather event contracts as markets where regional exclusions damage liquidity and information discovery.
• The interpretation took effect on November 10, 2026, and DCMs are expected to review access criteria, exchange rules and intermediary arrangements for compliance.

Executive summary

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued final interpretive guidance on the requirement that designated contract markets provide competitive, open, fair and impartial access to members and persons with trading privileges under Commission Regulation 38.151(b). The interpretation took effect on…

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