CFTC Issues Impartial Access Requirements Interpretation

Key dates

2026-11-05

CFTC issued the interpretation of the impartial access requirements in 17 CFR 38.151(b).

2026-12-05 Deadline

Thirty-day period expires for DCMs to cease domestic geographic restrictions that violate the impartial-access requirements or submit an explanation to the Division of Market Oversight why compliance is not feasible; the same period applies to addressing intermediary impediments or explaining why compliance is not feasible.

Suggested considerations

• DCMs should inventory all domestic geographic eligibility, onboarding, trading, product-access, and account-management restrictions and assess them against 17 CFR 38.151(b)'s requirements for impartial, transparent, and non-discriminatory access.
• DCMs should review whether state-based restrictions affect members, persons with trading privileges, independent software vendors, or access to particular products, including event contracts.
• DCMs should identify and review contractual, technical, and operational controls used by futures commission merchants, introducing brokers, and other intermediaries to determine whether they impose geographic restrictions inconsistent with the DCM's impartial-access requirements.
• DCMs should document the legal and operational basis for removing each restriction or, where removal is not feasible, prepare a fact-specific explanation for the Division of Market Oversight before the 30-day period expires.
• Compliance teams at intermediaries should map state-based geofencing, customer-location verification, product blocking, and position-management restrictions affecting access to DCM markets and assess whether those controls are required by applicable law, regulation, or court order.
• Affected firms should assess conflicts between the CFTC's interpretation and any state requirements or judicial orders, obtain legal analysis, and avoid treating the interpretation as automatically vacating an injunction or other binding court order.
• DCMs should retain evidence of governance review, intermediary oversight, customer communications, access testing, and remediation decisions in anticipation of possible fact-specific CFTC inquiry or enforcement.

What changed

The CFTC has applied the existing impartial-access requirements in 17 CFR 38.151(b) expressly to domestic geographic restrictions, including restrictions based on a market participant's state or location. DCMs must cease geographic restrictions that violate the rule within 30 days of the November 5, 2026 publication, or submit an explanation to the Division of Market Oversight stating why compliance is not feasible. DCMs should also ensure that intermediaries accessing their markets do not impede impartial access and comply with the DCM's requirements, or provide a corresponding feasibility explanation. The publication is an interpretation of an existing regulation rather than a new rulemaking, and the CFTC said it will assess potential action based on the facts and circumstances of each c

Who is affected

• CFTC-registered designated contract markets
• Futures commission merchants and introducing brokers that provide access to DCMs
• Other intermediaries and access providers connecting customers to DCM markets
• Independent software vendors receiving access to DCM markets and services
• Market participants with trading privileges on DCMs
• Operators of federally regulated prediction markets and event-contract markets

Related regulations

• 17 CFR 38.151(b)
• 17 CFR 38.151(c)
• Commodity Exchange Act Section 5(a)
• Commodity Exchange Act Core Principle 2 for Designated Contract Markets