DOCSLIB.ORG

Recent Developments in CFTC Enforcement

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Recent Developments in CFTC Enforcement Securities Regulation & Law ReportTM Reproduced with permission from Securities Regulation & Law Report, 50 SRLR 147, 01/22/2018. Copyright ஽ 2018 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) http://www.bna.com CFTC ENFORCEMENT Year in Review: Recent Developments in CFTC Enforcement BY DEBORAH A. MONSON,DANIEL V. WARD,HELEN has had a major impact on the Commission. As a pre- liminary matter, the Commission’s composition has GUGEL, AND KATHRYN M. ROULETT changed substantially since President Trump took of- fice. In the ordinary course, the Commission consists of five commissioners appointed by the president (and ap- I. Introduction proved by the Senate) to serve staggered five year terms. However, after former CFTC Chairman Timothy Long gone are the days when the Commodity Futures Massad resigned on inauguration day and Commis- Trading Commission (the ‘‘CFTC’’ or the ‘‘Commis- sioner J. Christopher Giancarlo was named Acting sion’’) was occasionally dismissed as a ‘‘sleepy federal Chairman in his place, the Commission was left with backwater.’’ To the contrary, since the passage of the only two members (Acting Chairman Giancarlo and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protec- Commissioner Sharon Bowen). This frustrated routine tion Act (‘‘Dodd Frank’’) in 2010, the CFTC has used its business and made important rule making almost im- expanded authority aggressively to police the futures, possible. The situation improved on August 3, when the options, and swaps markets – bringing record numbers Senate confirmed two new Commissioners (Brian Quin- of enforcement actions and collecting record amounts tenz and Rostin Behnam) and Commissioner Giancarlo of fines in the process. as permanent Chairman, although two openings re- In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, the main. Commission brought 49 enforcement actions and col- lected over $412 million in sanctions. While these fig- Although the Commission is still recalibrating its fo- ures represent a decrease from recent years, the Com- cus to reflect the priorities of the new administration, mission’s continuing pursuit of increasingly complex Chairman Giancarlo’s public remarks provide some in- enforcement cases and other initiatives leave no doubt sight into its direction. On March 3, he stated that, about its regulatory intentions. This article examines ‘‘consistent with the goals of the Trump Administration, notable developments and enforcement themes from the CFTC must reinterpret its regulatory mission this past fiscal year, as well as the Commission’s ex- through the following three-part agenda: (i) Fostering pected priorities going forward. economic growth; (ii) Enhancing U.S. financial mar- kets; and (iii) Right-sizing its regulatory footprint.’’ CFTC, Remarks of Acting Chairman J. Christopher Gi- II. New Leadership, New Focus ancarlo before the 42nd Annual International Futures Industry Conference in Boca Raton, FL (Mar. 15, 2017). As with most federal agencies, the election of Presi- First, the Commission will foster economic growth by dent Trump and subsequent change in administration implementing Project KISS (for ‘‘Keep It Simple Stu- COPYRIGHT ஽ 2018 BY THE BUREAU OF NATIONAL AFFAIRS, INC. ISSN 0037-0665 2 pid’’) to streamline CFTC rules and regulations, making scheme. The CFTC alleged that Monex defrauded thou- certain organizational changes, and embracing techno- sands of retail customers across the country -- many of logical change in trading markets. Second, the Commis- whom are elderly -- out of hundreds of millions of dol- sion will seek to enhance the health and effectiveness of lars while executing tens of thousands of illegal, off- financial markets by advocating for the recalibration of exchange leveraged commodity transactions. Enforce- bank capital requirements, fixing the regulatory frame- ment Director James McDonald described this as ‘‘one work for swaps trading, and participating in discussions of the largest precious metals fraud cases in the history with its overseas regulatory counterparts. Third, it will of the Commission.’’ ‘‘place its own house in order and right-size its regula- tory footprint’’ by winding down the implementation of Dodd-Frank, focusing on ‘‘core’’ missions of encourag- IV. VIRTUAL CURRENCY ing healthy markets by working cooperatively with In addition to maintaining its focus on traditional ar- other regulators and enforcement agencies, and run- eas of enforcement, the Commission expanded its focus ning a ‘‘tighter ship’’ with respect to its budget. to include fraud in virtual currency. In September 2017, Importantly, Chairman Giancarlo warned that these the CFTC brought its first anti-fraud enforcement ac- initiatives should not be interpreted as a harbinger of tion in the cryptocurrency space when it charged Gelf- decreased enforcement activity, emphasizing that man Blueprint, Inc. and its Chief Executive Officer and wrongdoers ‘‘will face aggressive and assertive enforce- Head Trader Nicholas Gelfman with fraud, misappro- ment action by the CFTC under the Trump Administra- priation, and issuing false account statements in con- tion.’’ Later that month, on March 30, Chairman Gian- nection with solicited investments in bitcoin. According carlo appointed James McDonald as the new Director to the complaint, the defendants operated a bitcoin of Enforcement and reiterated that ‘‘there will be no Ponzi scheme in which they convinced at least eighty pause, no let up and no relaxation in the CFTC’s mis- customers to invest approximately $600,000 in a fund sion to enforce the law and punish wrongdoing.’’ None- that purportedly employed a high-frequency algorith- theless, the extent to which Chairman Giancarlo’s mic trading strategy to trade bitcoin when, ‘‘in fact, the newly identified objectives and Director McDonald’s strategy was fake, the purported performance profits leadership will influence the Commission’s enforce- were false, and —as in all Ponzi schemes—payouts of ment activities remains to be seen. supposed profits...inactuality consisted of other cus- tomers’ misappropriated funds.’’ The CFTC alleges that III. RETAIL FRAUD Gelfman staged a computer hack in order to conceal the plot and explain the loss of nearly all the customer Retail fraud was a major focus of the Commission’s funds. Among other things, the CFTC is seeking restitu- enforcement activity in fiscal year 2017, making up al- tion to defrauded pool participants, disgorgement, civil most half of its enforcement cases (20 of 49). In line monetary penalties, trading bans, and a permanent in- with previous years, the CFTC focused on retail fraud in junction against certain trading activity. a number of spheres. Based on the CFTC’s public statements and the in- A. The Usual Suspects creasing prevalence of virtual currency in the market- The majority of the Commission’s retail fraud cases place, this case is likely to be the first of many enforce- reflected familiar themes. For example, the CFTC main- ment actions in this space. In October 2017, the CFTC tained its robust enforcement of foreign currency fraud. released ‘‘A Primer on Virtual Currencies,’’ the first of a In February 2017, the CFTC filed and settled charges series of publications by a newly launched CFTC initia- against Forex Capital Markets LLC (FXCM). FXCM tive known as LabCFTC ‘‘to help market participants agreed to pay a $7 million dollar penalty for defrauding and innovators navigate the FinTech landscape.’’ The retail foreign exchange customers over a 5-year time primer reiterates the CFTC’s view that virtual currency period by concealing its relationship with its most im- is a commodity and that the ‘‘CFTC’s jurisdiction is im- portant market maker and misrepresenting that its plat- plicated when a virtual currency is used in a derivatives form had no conflicts of interests with its customers. As contract, or if there is fraud or manipulation involving a another example, the CFTC brought numerous actions virtual currency traded in interstate commerce.’’ That related to commodity pool operators. In July 2017, a de- the LabCFTC focused on virtual currency for its inaugu- fault judgment was entered against Anthony J. Klatch ral publication is a testament to the growing importance II, Lindsey Heim, and their company Assurance Capital of virtual currency to the marketplace and to the Management, LLC for defrauding participants in a com- CFTC’s regulatory agenda. modity pool they operated and misappropriating the funds of pool participants, among other violations of V. MARKET MANIPULATION the Commodity Exchange Act (‘‘CEA’’) and CFTC regu- lations. The order required the defendants to pay more Market manipulation has been a major focus of the than $2.4 million in restitution and civil monetary pen- Commission in recent years, and fiscal year 2017 was alties for their violations. And on September 29, 2017, no exception: enforcement cases based on manipula- the Commission filed an action against a husband and tion, attempted manipulation, false reporting, and dis- wife for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded com- ruptive trading represented almost a quarter of the total modity pool participants and for failing to register with enforcement actions brought by the Commission. the CFTC as commodity pool operators. A. Benchmark Manipulation The Commission also continued to bring enforce- The CFTC has continued to work with domestic and ment actions related to precious metals fraud. For ex- foreign regulators to target manipulation of global ample, in September 2017, the CFTC
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gary Dewaal Special Counsel and Chair, Financial Markets and Regulation
    Gary DeWaal Special Counsel and Chair, Financial Markets and Regulation New York Office +1.212.940.6558 [email protected] Practices Gary DeWaal brings substantial experience from both industry and government FOCUS: Financial Markets and Funds to his practice counseling clients on exchange-traded derivatives and Broker-Dealer Regulation cryptoassets. He advises a worldwide client base on transactional and Distributed Ledger Products, Services and Technology regulatory matters relating to those and other complex financial products. ESG and Sustainable Investing Gary's clients benefit from his deep well of contacts and practical knowledge Financial Markets Litigation and Enforcement from his prior work with the world's largest exchange-traded derivatives broker Futures and Derivatives and, before that, as a senior trial attorney with the Division of Enforcement at International the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Investment Management and Funds Quantitative and Algorithmic Trading Tapping deep knowledge to clear regulatory hurdles Industries Gary understands the urgency that drives the financial industry. His business Finance and Financial Markets background also gives him a unique understanding of his clients' products. This Private Client Services allows him to provide fast and practical responses to clients, often consulting Education directly with business executives as opposed to legal staff. JD, The State University of New York Buffalo Law School Before joining Katten, Gary interacted with regulators worldwide as the Group MBA, The State University of New York at General Counsel of Fimat (later known as Newedge), the exchange-traded Buffalo, with honors BA, The State University of New York at derivatives and securities broker. He also served in both business and legal Stony Brook, with high honors, Phi Beta roles for Brody, White & Co., and, before that, as a senior trial attorney with the Kappa, Omicron Delta Epsilon CFTC's Division of Enforcement.
    [Show full text]
  • High-Frequency Trading and the Flash Crash: Structural Weaknesses in the Securities Markets and Proposed Regulatory Responses Ian Poirier
    Hastings Business Law Journal Volume 8 Article 5 Number 2 Summer 2012 Summer 1-1-2012 High-Frequency Trading and the Flash Crash: Structural Weaknesses in the Securities Markets and Proposed Regulatory Responses Ian Poirier Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_business_law_journal Part of the Business Organizations Law Commons Recommended Citation Ian Poirier, High-Frequency Trading and the Flash Crash: Structural Weaknesses in the Securities Markets and Proposed Regulatory Responses, 8 Hastings Bus. L.J. 445 (2012). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_business_law_journal/vol8/iss2/5 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Business Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. High-Frequency Trading and the Flash Crash: Structural Weaknesses in the Securities Markets and Proposed Regulatory Responses Ian Poirier* I. INTRODUCTION On May 6th, 2010, a single trader in Kansas City was either lazy or sloppy in executing a large trade on the E-Mini futures market.1 Twenty minutes later, the broad U.S. securities markets were down almost a trillion dollars, losing at their lowest point more than nine percent of their value.2 Certain stocks lost nearly all of their value from just minutes before.3 Faced with the blistering pace of the decline, many market participants opted to cease trading entirely, including both human traders and High Frequency Trading (“HFT”) programs.4 This withdrawal of liquidity5 accelerated the crash, as fewer buyers were able to absorb the rapid-fire selling pressure of the HFT programs.6 Within two hours, prices were back * J.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Spoofing the Limit Order Book
    Spoofing the Limit Order Book: An Agent-Based Model Xintong Wang Michael P. Wellman [email protected] [email protected] Computer Science & Engineering University of Michigan ABSTRACT to improved price discovery and efficiency, the automation We present an agent-based model of manipulating prices in and dissemination of market information may also introduce financial markets through spoofing: submitting spurious or- new possibilities of disruptive and manipulative practices in ders to mislead traders who observe the order book. Built financial markets. around the standard limit-order mechanism, our model cap- Recent years have witnessed several cases of fraud and tures a complex market environment with combined private manipulation in the financial markets, where traders made and common values, the latter represented by noisy observa- tremendous profits by deceiving investors or artificially af- fecting market beliefs. On April 21, 2015, nearly five years tions upon a dynamic fundamental time series. We consider 1 background agents following two types of trading strategies: after the “Flash Crash”, the U.S. Department of Justice zero intelligence (ZI) that ignores the order book and heuris- charged Navinder Singh Sarao with 22 criminal counts, in- tic belief learning (HBL) that exploits the order book to cluding fraud and market manipulation [3]. Prior to the predict price outcomes. By employing an empirical game- Flash Crash, Sarao allegedly used an automated program theoretic analysis to derive approximate strategic equilibria, to place orders amounting to about $200 million worth of we demonstrate the e↵ectiveness of HBL and the usefulness bets that the market would fall, and later replaced or mod- of order book information in a range of non-spoofing envi- ified those orders 19,000 times before cancellation.
    [Show full text]
  • Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., NYSE Arca, Inc., and Vedder Price P.C
    MEMORANDUM TO: File No. SR-NYSEArca-2019-01 FROM: Lauren Yates Office of Market Supervision, Division of Trading and Markets DATE: March 20, 2019 SUBJECT: Meeting with Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., NYSE Arca, Inc., and Vedder Price P.C. __________________________________________________________________________ On March 19, 2019, Elizabeth Baird, Christian Sabella, Natasha Greiner, Michael Coe, Edward Cho, Neel Maitra, David Remus (by phone), and Lauren Yates from the Division of Trading and Markets; Charles Garrison, Johnathan Ingram, Cindy Oh, Andrew Schoeffler (by phone), Amy Starr (by phone), Sara Von Althann, and David Walz (by phone) from the Division of Corporation Finance; and David Lisitza (by phone) from the Office of General Counsel, met with the following individuals: Teddy Fusaro, Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. Matt Hougan, Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. Hope Jarkowski, NYSE Arca, Inc. Jamie Patturelli, NYSE Arca, Inc. David DeGregorio, NYSE Arca, Inc. (by phone) Tom Conner, Vedder Price P.C. John Sanders, Vedder Price P.C. The discussion concerned NYSE Arca, Inc.’s proposed rule change to list and trade, pursuant to NYSE Arca Rule 8.201-E, shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust. Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. also provided the attached presentation to the Commission Staff. Bitwise Asset Management Presentation to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission March 19, 2019 About Bitwise 01 VENTURE INVESTORS Pioneer: Created the world’s first crypto index fund. 02 TEAM BACKGROUNDS Specialist: The only asset we invest in is crypto. 03 Experienced: Deep expertise in crypto, asset management and ETFs. 2 Today’s Speakers Teddy Fusaro Matt Hougan Chief Operating Officer Global Head of Research Previously Senior Vice President and Senior Previously CEO of Inside ETFs.
    [Show full text]
  • Sarao Criminal Complaint
    AO 91(Rev.11/11) Criminal Complaint DOJ Fraud Section Assistant Chief Brent S. Wible (202) 257-4592 and DOJ Fraud Section Trial Attorney Michael T. O'Neill (202) 304-2637 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION MAGISTRATE JUDGE tl/IART«N UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CASE NUMBER: v. UNDER SEAL NAVINDER SINGH SARAO 15Cll 75 CRIMINAL COMPLAINT I, the complainant in this case, state that the following is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. From in or about June 2009 through in or about April 2014, in Chicago, in the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, and elsewhere, the defendant violated: Code Section Offense Description Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 Defendant willfully and knowingly, having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, did transmit and cause to be transmitted by means of wire communication in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme and artifice. Title 18, United States Code, Section 1348 Defendant knowingly executed, and attempted to execute, a scheme and artifice to defraud a person in connection with a commodity for future delivery, and to obtain, by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, any money and property in connection with the purchase and sale of any commodity for future delivery. Title 7, United States Code, Section 13(a)(2) Defendant knowingly and intentionally manipulated and attempted to manipulate the price of a commodity in interstate commerce.
    [Show full text]
  • Market Manipulation Regulations in the U.S. and U.K
    A PRIMER ON January 2021 Market Manipulation Regulations in the U.S. and U.K. Exchange Act §§ 9(a), 10(b); SEC Rule 10b-5 Art. 15 Market Abuse Regulation Securities Act § 17(a) §§ 89-91 Financial Services Act 2012 Commodities Exchange Act §§ 4, 6 and 9 § 2 Fraud Act 2006 Art. 5 REMIT CONTENTS I. WHAT IS MARKET MANIPULATION? ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 II. MARKET MANIPULATION UNDER U.S. FEDERAL LAW .............................................................................................................................. 5 A. Structure of U.S. Federal Market Regulators ....................................................................................................................................... 6 B. 1934 Exchange Act ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1. Section 9(a) (15 U.S.C. § 78i(a)) – Prohibition Against Manipulation of Security Prices ......................................................... 7 a. “Matched Orders” and “Wash Sales” under Exchange Act § 9(a)(1) ............................................................................. 8 b. “Marking the Close” and “Painting the Tape” under Exchange Act § 9(a)(2) ............................................................. 9 c. Pump and Dump Schemes ....................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Case 1:20-Cv-05918-LLS Document 1 Filed 06/29/20 Page 1 of 26
    Case 1:20-cv-05918-LLS Document 1 Filed 06/29/20 Page 1 of 26 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS THOMAS GRAMATIS, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Civil Action No. Plaintiff, v. CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO., J.P. MORGAN CLEARING CORP., J.P. JURY TRIAL DEMANDED MORGAN SECURITIES LLC, J.P. MORGAN FUTURES, INC. (now known as J.P. MORGAN SECURITIES LLC), and JOHN DOES 1-50, Defendants. Case 1:20-cv-05918-LLS Document 1 Filed 06/29/20 Page 2 of 26 Plaintiff Thomas Gramatis, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, files this Complaint against Defendants J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., J.P. Morgan Clearing Corp., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, J.P. Morgan Futures, Inc. (now known as J.P. Morgan Securities LLC), and John Does 1-50, (collectively, “J.P. Morgan” or “Defendants”) for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act. Plaintiff’s allegations are made on personal knowledge as to Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s own acts and upon information and belief as to all other matters. I. NATURE OF THE ACTION 1. This case is brought under the Commodities Exchange Act (“CEA”), 7 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., for losses suffered when Plaintiff and the Class purchased and/or sold U.S. Treasury futures contracts and options on those contracts (“Treasury Futures”) on domestic exchanges at artificial prices that were the result of spoofing and market manipulation by J.P. Morgan. 2. The central theory of this case is straightforward.
    [Show full text]
  • “Spoofing”: US Law and Enforcement
    Resource ID: w-020-9748 “Spoofing”: US Law and Enforcement PRACTICAL LAW FINANCE AND AARON STEPHENS, ZACH FARDON, KATHERINE KIRKPATRICK, MICHAEL WATLING, MATTHEW WISSA, AND MARGARET NETTESHEIM, KING & SPALDING LLP Search the Resource ID numbers in blue on Westlaw for more. A Practice Note providing an overview of the This Note summarizes US law on spoofing and how spoofing is US legal and regulatory framework relating prosecuted in the US. This Note also provides examples of the types of trading practices that may constitute spoofing. to spoofing, a market manipulation offense, including relevant criminal prosecutions and US SPOOFING LAW AND ENFORCEMENT: AT A GLANCE civil enforcement cases. Enforcement CFTC (civil). authorities Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (civil). Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Spoofing is a form of market manipulation in which a trader submits (FINRA) (civil). and then cancels offers or bids in a security or commodity on an Department of Justice (DOJ) (criminal). exchange or other trading platform with the co-existent intent to Current Law Dodd-Frank Act, Section 747. cancel the bid or offer before it can be executed. Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), Section 4c(a)(5)(C). Spoofing may take various forms, but it often involves the placing of Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as Amended non-bona-fide, large or small volume orders on one side of the order (Exchange Act), Sections 10(b) and 9(a)(2). book and then canceling those orders either immediately or within Securities Act of 1933, as Amended (Securities Act), a short period of time after placement. A spoofer’s intent may be to Section 17(a).
    [Show full text]
  • Employment Tribunals
    Case Number: 3201735/2019 EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS Claimant: Mr K Y Choo Respondent: Citigroup Global Markets Limited Heard at: East London Hearing Centre (by Cloud Video Platform) On: 1- 4 & 7 September 2020; 14 – 15 October 2020 Before: Employment Judge Gardiner Representation Claimant: Mr Mukhtiar Singh, Counsel Respondent: Mr Simon Devonshire QC JUDGMENT The judgment of the Tribunal is that:- The Claimant’s unfair dismissal claim is not well founded and accordingly is dismissed. REASONS 1. Until his summary dismissal on 19 March 2019, Mr King Yew Choo was employed by Citigroup Global Markets Limited as a junior trader, with the job title “Associate”. He was based in the Respondent’s London office, in Canary Wharf. He had worked for the Respondent since 26 August 2014, joining as a graduate trainee. The reason for his dismissal given by the Respondent was gross misconduct. The Respondent contended that his market interaction on three separate dates was said to be improper market manipulation, known as “spoofing”. 2. Mr Choo’s case before the Employment Tribunal is that this was an unfair dismissal. In these proceedings he does not allege his dismissal was a wrongful dismissal, in that he does not claim for his contractual notice pay. I was told he wished to reserve his right to claim his notice pay in other proceedings. 1 Case Number: 3201735/2019 3. For convenience, in these Reasons, I refer to the parties as the Claimant and the Respondent. 4. The Final Hearing was conducted remotely on the Cloud Video Platform (CVP) to enable the Hearing to be heard on its original listing dates.
    [Show full text]
  • US & UK Litigation Briefing
    Global Litigation & Arbitration Group US & UK Litigation Briefing SPOOFING UNDER US AND UK LAW 21 June 2021 Key Contacts James Cavoli William Charles Charles Evans Partner Partner Partner +1 212.530.5172 +44 20.7615.3076 +44 20.7615.3090 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Emily Clarke Kayla Giampaolo Conrad Marinkovic Law Clerk Associate Associate +1 212.530.5036 +1 212.530.5217 +44 20.7615.3085 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] On May 24, 2021, Milbank’s White Collar Defense and Investigations Group announced the publication of “A Practice Guide on the Law of Spoofing in the Derivatives and Securities Markets,” a whitepaper published by Wolters Kluwer Legal and Regulatory US.1 This Guide provides a detailed analysis of the statutory frameworks used to combat spoofing—a form of price manipulation—in the US and a comprehensive treatment of key US case law developments, spoofing enforcement actions and private litigation. In the UK, spoofing and related forms of market manipulation have been a focus for the regulatory authorities for some time. Most recently, on May 28, 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a Market Watch newsletter which focuses on the FCA’s efforts to identify market manipulation (including spoofing) and recent enforcement activity in this regard.2 In this article, we examine the prevailing regimes concerning spoofing in the US and UK, including the key similarities and differences between them. Spoofing: the US regime Although regulators in the US have long asserted that what we now call spoofing—bidding or offering with the intent to cancel the bid or offer before execution—undermines the integrity of the markets, it was not 1 Available at https://www.milbank.com/en/news/milbank-publishes-a-practice-guide-on-the-law-of-spoofing-in- the-derivatives-and-securities-markets.html.
    [Show full text]
  • High-Frequency Trading: Deception and Consequences
    Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, May 2018, Vol. 14, No. 5, 271-280 doi: 10.17265/1548-6583/2018.05.004 D DAVID PUBLISHING High-Frequency Trading: Deception and Consequences Viktoria Dalko Hult International Business School, Massachusetts, USA Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA Michael H. Wang Research Institute of Comprehensive Economics, Massachusetts, USA This commentary is based on the work of Cooper, Davis, and Van Vliet (2016) and the commentary focuses on what problem high-frequency trading poses. It lists key literature on high-frequency trading that is missing and points out that the poker analogy to defend deception in financial markets is weak and misleading. The article elaborates on the negative impact created by spoofing and quote stuffing, the two typical deceptive practices used by high-frequency traders. The recent regulations regarding high-frequency trading, in response to the “Flash Crash” of 2010, are preventive, computerized and more effective. They reflect ethical requirements to maintain fair and stable financial markets. Keywords: high-frequency trading, deception, volatility, instability, ethics, regulation Introduction High-frequency trading provides an increasingly significant portion of daily trading volumes in US equity markets. Executed orders submitted by high-frequency firms made up 35% of equity trades in the US in 2005, high-frequency trades increased to 56% in 2010, and they rose further to 70% in 2012 (Kauffman, Liu, & Ma, 2015). However, the cancelled orders related to the trades are not known. Although the dominance of high-frequency trading in equity trading has been the increasing concern by certain market participants, only the “Flash Crash” on the New York Stock Exchange on May 6, 2010 started to unveil the impact that high-frequency trading has exerted to other investors and to the market as a whole (Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] & Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], 2010; SEC, 2013).
    [Show full text]
  • Strategic Spoofing Order Trading by Different Types of Investors in the Futures Markets
    Strategic Spoofing Order Trading by Different Types of Investors in the Futures Markets Yun-Yi Wang∗ ____________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT We set out in this study to investigate the strategic behavior of spoofing trading orders in the index futures market in Taiwan, including their characteristics, profitability, determinants and real-time impacts. We find the existence of both spoofing-buy and spoofing-sell strategies, with such spoofing orders being discernible not only among institutional investors, but also individual traders. Spoofing trading is profitable, with traders are more likely to submit spoofing orders when both volume and volatility are high, and the price for spoofing-sell (buy) orders is high (low). Furthermore, spoofing trading induces subsequent volume, spread and volatility, and spoofing-buy (sell) orders have a positive (negative) effect on the subsequent price. Our findings provide general support for the view that spoofing trading destabilizes the market. Keywords: Spoofing orders; Price manipulation; Market efficiency; Liquidity; Volatility; Profitability; Institutional investors; Individual traders. JEL Classification: G10; G14. ∗ Yun-Yi Wang is an Associate Professor at the Department of Finance, Feng Chia University, Taiwan. Address for correspondence: Department of Finance, Feng Chia University, 100 Wenhwa Road, Seatwen, Taichung, Taiwan 40724, ROC. Tel: +886-4-24517250 (ext.4175); email: [email protected]. 1 1. INTRODUCTION The issue of market manipulation is clearly of significant importance both in academia and in practice. Recently, the high-frequency trader Navinder Sarao’s ‘Flash Crash’ case highlights problem of ‘spoofing’ order trading.1 U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Mr. Sarao entered large number of orders to sell futures contracts, and then canceled the vast majority of them, which contributed to the May 2010 meltdown that came to be called the ‘Flash Crash’.
    [Show full text]