Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Michael Zelener

EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents the question whether speculative transactions in foreign currency are “contracts of sale of a commodity for future delivery” regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 7 U.S.C. § 2(a)(1)(A). Until recently almost all trading related to foreign currency was outside the CFTC’s remit, even if an equivalent contract in wheat or oil would be covered. See Dunn v. CFTC, 519 U.S. 465, 117 S.Ct. 913, 137 L.Ed.2d 93 (1997) (describing the Treasury Amendment to the Commodity Exchange Act). But Congress modified the Treasury Amendment as part of…