The number of futures commission merchants has declined steadily, . The incoming regulators may be reasonably concerned about this exodus from the industry. It is not possible to say the extent to which the decrease in the number of firms is due to increased regulatory costs, but it would be surprising if that were not a material factor.

Given CFTC Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo's concern over the rights of market participants to protect their intellectual property, comments on Regulation AT should be read with an open mind.

The substance of Chair White's advice and commentary seems Delphic. Is she telling her successors to be independent of the new administration of the President-elect, or is she articulating her stance toward Senator Elizabeth Warren's various attacks? (See; ; .)

The rule proposal would provide welcome updates to the requirements for the storage of electronic records under CFTC Rule 1.31. Significantly, the proposal would eliminate many of the prescriptive requirements of the current rule, including the need for firms to use outdated "write once, read many" (or "WORM") storage media. Instead, the proposed new rule would adopt a technology-neutral requirement that electronic records be maintained in ways that preserved their "authenticity and…