The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the Market Participants Division (MPD) and the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) are providing a continuation of certain parts of the temporary no-action relief issued in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

The following relief is extended until September 30, 2021:

• Relief from Introducing Broker (IB) Registration and Location Requirements for Floor Brokers (FBs). MPD is providing a limited continuation of relief from IB registration and location requirements for FBs that normally operate on an exchange’s trading floor and/or other designated premises from which customer orders may be placed.
• Relief for Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). DMO is providing a limited continuation of targeted no-action relief for DCMs from certain CFTC regulations related to real-time market monitoring requirements as a result of the displacement of FBs from the trading floor.

Let’s recall that, on March 17, 2020, targeted, temporary relief was granted to a broad spectrum of market participants to support orderly trading and liquidity as they implemented social distancing measures. To date, the CFTC and CFTC staff have taken more than 20 actions to provide market participants temporary, targeted relief in response to the pandemic.