Some people can’t leave well enough alone.
For more than 50 years the world’s central banks have traded unencumbered. Currency speculation wasn’t a big problem.
But that was then and this is now.
Currency speculation now matches or exceeds the $40 billion traded each day by central and money center banks.
It’s not surprising then that traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange want to get a piece of the action.
Today, currency contracts and futures don’t have to be traded on a regulated exchange, such as the Merc.
But that will change if a 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decision is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week said it would hear arguments on the issue.
Merc officials say that it is simply a case of leveling the playing field. Everybody that trades futures should be subject to the same rules and regulations.
That’s what they say for public consumption.
It would be interesting to hear what they say privately. Or maybe they’re too busy speculating about their potential profits.
