Market News & Headlines >> CFTC Further Delays Trader Commitments Report

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced on Thursday afternoon that it will again delay the release of its weekly Commitments of Traders report following a Jan. 30 cyber-attack on ION Cleared Derivatives, a subsidiary of ION markets, which has disrupted reporting of trader positions data.

“Following the ION cyber-related incident, reporting firms are continuing to experience some issues submitting timely and accurate data to the CFTC. As a result, the weekly Commitments of Traders (CoT) report that normally would have been published on Friday, February 17, will be postponed,” the CFTC said in a statement.

The agency said it intends to resume publishing the weekly report as early as Feb. 24 and at that time will begin with the report that was originally scheduled to be released on Feb. 3. The CFTC then intends to “sequentially issue the missed CoT reports in an expedited manner, subject to reporting firms submitting accurate and complete data.” The agency said it anticipated to have the missed reports published by mid-March assuming timely submission of backlogged data by reporting firms.

Agricultural commodities traders have grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of commitments of traders data. The absence of the data may be contributing to a slowdown in trading volume that has occurred this week. The last CFTC Commitments of Traders report published on Feb. 3 provided data on trader positions as of Jan. 24.

ION, based in Dublin, provides data and services to clients in the financial sector, who use its technology to facilitate trading and settlement of exchange-traded derivatives. A Jan. 30 ransomware attack halted these processes. A market participant with knowledge of the situation told Reuters News Service that thousands of firms may have been affected.