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Sales Practices and Promotional Material

NFA Compliance Rule 2-29 and Compliance Rule 2-36 address promotional material and Member communication with the public. These rules cover the following:

  • General Prohibition;
  • Content of Promotional Material;
  • Hypothetical Results;
  • Statements of Opinion;
  • Supervisory Requirements;
  • Recordkeeping;
  • Filing with NFA;
  • Audio and Video Promotional Material;
  • Definitions; and
  • Security Futures Products.

Additionally, Interpretive Notice 9073 establishes disclosure requirements for Members engaging in activities related to virtual currencies or virtual currency derivatives.

Pre-Approval Submissions

NFA Compliance Rule 2-29 requires Members to submit to NFA for pre-approval certain types of promotional material designed to reach a public audience through mass media. This material must be submitted 10 days prior to first use.

Promotional materials requiring NFA pre-approval include:

  • Audio or video advertisements that include specific trading recommendations or refer to or describe the extent of any profit obtained in the past or that can be achieved in the future.
  • Promotional material relating to Security Futures Products.

NFA will perform reviews of such submissions within 10 days of receipt.

Voluntary Pre-Review Program

NFA assists Members in achieving their regulatory requirements with NFA Compliance Rule 2-29 by offering a Pre-Review Program. This voluntary program is available free of charge to Members whose promotional material has not yet been used. NFA will perform a review of the promotional material within 14 days of receipt and will discuss any comments about the submission with the Member.

Submitting Promotional Material to NFA

Promotional material must be submitted using NFA's Promotional Material Filing System. Promotional material may only be filed by individuals with access to file promotional material on behalf of the Member.

Promotional material submissions must be submitted to NFA for review by a firm representative who has been designated to file promotional material on behalf of the Member by its security manager.

For more information, please refer to: A Guide to Communications with the Public and Promotional Material.

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