Experience tells you that in any business, things do not always go smoothly. It's the same in the business of trading. At some point you are likely to encounter a problem, or something will happen that you don't understand or don't agree with.

The CME Division of Market Regulation, which enforces CME rules and administers its arbitration program, suggests you keep the following things in mind as you try to resolve such problems:

• First, talk to your brokerage firm:
  
  When you have a question about your account or a trade, first ask your account representative or your firm's compliance officer what happened, and why it happened. Give the firm an opportunity to look into the matter and clear it up for you, or fix a mistake if one has been made. Most differences can be resolved in this way. You may not always like what your firm has to tell you, but at least you will have a better understanding of why the problem occurred. You can find a list of our clearing firms in the  CME Clearing Firms Directory.

• Act quickly:
  
  Discuss any problem with your firm immediately. As days pass, losses can mount, recollections can fade and information can be lost. If, for example, the dispute concerns the placing of an order or the report of a fill, delay in bringing it to the firm's attention can mean that tape-recordings of conversations about the order will probably be erased and re-used for another day's business.

• You may be able to resolve your dispute at CME, the NFA or the CFTC:
  
  If you can't resolve your dispute with or through your firm, you may want to contact one of the regulatory authorities. The commodity exchanges, including CME, offer a forum to arbitrate disputes between customers and exchange members, including clearing member firms and introducing brokers guaranteed by a CME clearing member firm. The National Futures Association (NFA), an industry-funded regulatory organization headquartered in Chicago, likewise offers arbitration of claims against industry registrants. The federal regulatory agency, the  Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), also has a dispute-resolution forum, which it calls "reparation proceedings."
• Investigation will not guarantee restitution:
  
  CME, the NFA, and the CFTC have an extensive body of rules designed to protect the trading public. If you believe that the problem you are experiencing may be the result of some violation of those rules, you should bring it to the attention of the appropriate regulatory body. However, you should understand that when a regulator investigates a complaint from a customer for possible rule violations, the information obtained during the investigation is confidential, and will not be shared with the customer. Investigations sometimes lead to disciplinary action and a fine, but such action generally does not result in restitution to the customer. Customers who want to recover a loss from a dispute will need to pursue their own claims through arbitration, reparations or the courts.
• For more information on arbitration:
  
  For those who may be interested in arbitration at CME, please see the  CME Arbitration Guide, the CME Chapter 6 Rules on arbitration, and the  CME Consent to Arbitration form (PDF). It should be clarified here that CME can only arbitrate claims against individual members of a Division of the Exchange and/or their employees, CME clearing member firms and/or their employees, or introducing brokers and/or their employees in instances where the introducing broker is guaranteed by a CME clearing member firm, and only regarding transactions on CME. If your dispute is with a person or firm that is not a member of CME, or if it involves a transaction on another exchange, you may be able to have your claim decided at the other exchange, at the NFA or CFTC, or in court. If you would like to know more about arbitration at the NFA, you may call the NFA at (312) 781-1300 or visit its Web site at www.nfa.futures.org. For information about the CFTC's reparations program, you can call the CFTC Office of Proceedings in Washington, D.C., at (202) 418-5250, or visit its Web site at www.cftc.gov.

  Finally, you should understand that CME staff cannot provide legal advice to a customer about his or her dispute with a CME member, or about the choice of a forum to resolve it. Such advice should be sought from an attorney of the customer's choosing. If you have any questions, please e-mail us.