Recently, questions have been raised about the rules which apply when individuals trade opposite their own orders on the ACCESS® and GLOBEX® systems. 

NYMEX Rule 8.55(A)(7) (Major Offenses) prohibits wash trading – trading opposite sides of an order from the same beneficial account owner. With respect to NYMEX trades executed on the ACCESS® and GLOBEX® systems, this rule prohibits any person entering orders into the system from intentionally trading opposite their own bids or offers.  Similarly, the rule prohibits any account owner from directing that bids or offers for his or her account be entered into either ACCESS® or GLOBEX® with the intent of trading opposite one another.   However, this restriction does not apply to individuals entering independently initiated orders on opposite sides of the market for different beneficial account owners that did not involve pre-execution discussions.

In electronic trading, it may occur that an individual trades opposite his or her own order by accident.  If this happens more than occasionally, it is recommended that the situation be reported to the Trade Practice Division of the Compliance Department, along with an explanation of the reasons for the transactions. Generally, unintentional trades of this type will not be considered rule violations.  However, if such trades occur frequently without explanation, or if they cause price or volume aberrations, other rule violations may be involved.  Traders who engage in frequent changing of bids and offers are encouraged to use front-end functionality which automatically cancels orders at a price when the trader enters new orders on the opposite side of the market at that price that could potentially be matched with the their own order.