Oil speculators beware: New rules are likely on the way

Speculators beware: American policy makers may soon tighten regulations with the goal of decreasing the influence of speculators in the oil and related energy markets.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will hold hearings this summer to consider imposing position limits for "all commodities of finite supply," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (subscription).

The commission will also review whether swap dealers, index traders and exchange-traded fund managers should be allowed to side-step those limits via special hedge exemptions.