Traders in the oil futures market should be required to put more of their own money on the line when speculating about the future of oil prices. That's what North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan said today as he introduced legislation to cut down on speculation in oil futures. The bill called the End Oil Speculation Act of 2008 orders a the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, to among other things require traders to have at least 25% of the value of a trade available in cash. Dorgan says as it stands now, traders need only a five- to seven-percent margin. He says commodity trading is an important part of the economy, but oil trading is getting out of hand. (Sen. Byron Dorgan, -D- ND) These marketplaces are necessary and important for legitimate hedging transactions for producers and consumers who wish to trade a physical product. That's very important. But it has gone way way way beyond that and has now become a marketplace that in my judgment has become full of speculation, full of excess speculation. Dorgan says getting excessive speculation out of the oil market will help bring prices closer to where they should be based on supply and demand.
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Added: Jun 25, 2008 |
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