WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s ongoing efforts to help protect Americans from fraud, today the CFTC added 43 unregistered foreign entities to its Red List, a tool that provides information to U.S. market participants about foreign entities that are acting in an unregistered capacity and to help them make more informed decisions about trading. The Red List, which stands for Registration Deficient List, launched in 2015 [See CFTC Press Release No. 7224-15], and now contains almost 300 entities.

A firm is added to the RED List when the CFTC determines, from investigative leads and questions from the public, that it is not registered with the Commission and appears to be acting in a capacity that requires registration, such as trading binary options, foreign currency (forex), or other products. The Commodity Exchange Act generally requires intermediaries in the derivatives industry to register with the CFTC. An “intermediary” is a person or firm that acts on behalf of another person in connection with trading futures, swaps, or options. Depending on the nature of its activities, an intermediary may also be subject to various financial, disclosure, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements. There are some exceptions or exemptions where an intermediary does not require registration.

The RED List is circulated to financial industry partners, including other regulators, consumer groups, industry participants, self-regulatory organizations, exchanges, and industry associations. It complements registration information provided by the National Futures Association. 

See the complete list at https://www.cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect.

The following CFTC staff members are responsible for the RED List: the Office of Customer Education and Outreach staff, and Division of Enforcement staff Michelle Bougas, and Rick Glaser, as well as former staff Erica Bodin.

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See CFTC’s Binary Options Customer Fraud Advisory

The CFTC has issued a Consumer Alert to warn about fraudulent schemes involving binary options and their trading platforms.  The Alert warns customers that the perpetrators of these unlawful schemes typically refuse to credit customer accounts, deny fund reimbursement, commit identity theft, and manipulate software to generate losing trades.

Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online.