Futures commission merchant

An FCM is an individual or organization which does both of the following:

Solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell futures contracts, options on futures, retail off-exchange forex contracts* or swaps and
Accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders.

Registration is required unless:

You handle transactions only for yourself or your firm itself or your firm's affiliates, top officers, or directors or
You are a non-U.S. resident or firm with only non-U.S. customers and you or your firm submits all trades for clearing to an FCM.

All registered FCMs must be Members of NFA in order to conduct futures business with the public.