The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that it has canceled the proposed public meeting which was scheduled to be held by the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee in Washington today in order to discuss methods by which to evolve the regulation of automated trading, high-frequency trading (HFT), and swap execution facilities (SEFs) within the United States.

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In a very brief notice provided by the CFTC, it was stated today that the severe weather conditions in the Washington Metropolitan area had been sufficient to warrant cancelation, however the regulatory authority has not issued a date on which the Technology Advisory Committee intends to reconvene in order to discuss these matters, nor has a notice been issued to advise that it will reschedule the meeting.

With the recent implementation of the Volcker Rule in North America, proprietary trading has become somewhat restricted among banking entities, but FX trading desks are currently exempt, therefore giving rise to a notion that the national regulators are showing less hostility toward the practice of HFT, algorithmic trading and firms which trade on their own account within the institutional FX sector than those which do so in Europe.

In this case, the harsh weather conditions in the North East may well be impeding the ability to travel, but are in no way impeding North America’s long established and highly advanced algorithmic trading desks, at least for the time being.