The Chicago Board of Trade has fined Hertshten Group Limited, a proprietary trading firm, following disruptive activity during pre-open trading periods. The firm “neither admitted nor denied” the rule violations as part of a settlement. Under the agreement, Hertshten Group must pay a $95,000 fine, with $55,000 allocated to CBOT.

CME Penalizes Institutional Prop Trading Firms

The case follows a recent enforcement action by CME Group against an institutional prop firm. In that case, CME fined Tanius Technology $150,000 after finding the firm entered oversized Treasury futures orders that it could not immediately cover. Between 2020 and 2022,

Tanius stacked maximum-quantity orders during roll periods, exploiting pro-rata matching to gain larger fills. Institutional prop firms like Hertshten Group and Tanius trade their own capital and are subject to CME market conduct rules, unlike retail-focused platforms such as FTMO or FundedNext.

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Both cases fall under the oversight of CME Group, though Hertshten was disciplined specifically by the CBOT committee while Tanius was handled at the broader CME Group level.

Automated Circuit Breakers Trigger CBOT Action

CBOT’s Business Conduct Committee found that Hertshten Group and analysts at its India-based subsidiary engaged in repeated messaging activity, described as “looping,” which affected opening prices in the 30 Day Federal Funds futures market. The activity triggered automated circuit breakers and required intervention from CME Group’s Global Command Center.

The Committee said the firm failed to supervise its agents adequately and did not prevent the disruptive behavior. The actions were deemed violations of CBOT rules covering supervision and market conduct.

CME Globex Outage Disrupts Futures Trading

The Hertshten Group case comes amid operational issues at CME Group. Yesterday (Thursday), CME’s Globex electronic trading platform went offline for several hours, affecting futures in gold, copper, and natural gas.

The outage triggered automated halts and required intervention from CME’s Global Command Center, which also monitors pre-open trading activity. The disruption affected normal price discovery and highlighted the exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term’s role in maintaining orderly market operations.