Chilton Speech on HFT Includes Call To Implement Position Limits According To Law

You may have read news stories recently where some say we can’t make that deadline, shouldn’t make that deadline, need to hold off until we get more data or better data so that the levels can be calculated with exact specificity. In an idyllic world, that might be fine. Congress, however, gave the agency the earlier implementation date for a reason—so that we put limits in place now, not some later time of our choosing. Additionally, the law provides no such authority for regulators to delay the imposition of these limits. There is no regulatory escape valve.

That hasn’t, however, slowed some folks down. There are creative suggestions for ways around the implementation requirement. Some proffered that the agency formally approve a final rule and consider that step as “implementation” under the law. At the same time, the rule would not make the limits effective until sometime in the future. They essentially propose the agency implement a rule on time without implementing it on time—without making it effective. If that sounds convoluted, it is. That sort of dancing on the head of a legal pin is exactly the variety of Washington-speak that makes folks in our country furious. I’d also bet that those in Congress who wrote the provision would have an opinion on the matter.