CFTC Issues No-Action Position for Passive Trading Software Providers

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division issued a no-action position on September 17 for providers of passive software that facilitates users’ trading with registered futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and designated contract markets.

Under the position, staff said it will not recommend enforcement action against an eligible software provider or relevant personnel for failing to register as an introducing broker or associated person of an introducing broker. The relief is subject to specified conditions and applies only to the provision and marketing of the software in the described setting.

The CFTC said the position is similar to the relief in Staff Letter 26-09 but is now broadly available to passive software providers. It does not change the registration status or regulatory obligations of the FCMs, introducing brokers, or exchanges that users access through the software.

Why it matters

For futures traders, the change could make it simpler for eligible technology providers to offer tools that connect users with regulated market intermediaries without becoming introducing brokers themselves. That may support more software choices around order entry, analytics, and workflow, while the firms handling customer relationships and execution remain subject to their existing CFTC obligations.

The scope is narrow: the CFTC’s position concerns passive software and is conditional. Traders should not assume that every platform or trading tool has the same regulatory treatment, or that the relief changes protections, account arrangements, or the risks of futures trading.

What to watch next

Watch for the conditions in the related staff letter and for provider disclosures describing whether a product relies on the position. Any future CFTC guidance on software functionality, marketing, or registration boundaries could affect how broadly firms use the relief.