CTA
A commodity trading advisor gives compensated advice about futures, options on futures, swaps, or other covered commodity interests.
Futures Intermediaries and Open Outcry
Commodity trading advisors, futures commission merchants, and open-outcry trading-floor terms in futures markets.
Futures intermediaries explain who advises customers, who carries customer futures accounts, and how orders historically reached a trading pit before electronic routing became dominant. The practical question is not only “who placed the trade?” but who gave advice, who accepted funds, who carried margin, and which exchange or clearing path controlled the contract.
Use Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) when the issue is futures, options-on-futures, forex, or swaps advice. Use Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) when the issue is customer order acceptance, customer funds, margin, and account carrying. Use Open Outcry Trading when the source document refers to floor-based bid, offer, trade-confirmation, or historical pit mechanics.
Official starting points include the CFTC page for intermediaries, the CFTC page for futures commission merchants, and NFA pages for CTA registration and FCM members.
For exchange names rather than intermediary roles, step back to U.S. Futures and Commodity Exchanges or Global Futures and Commodity Exchanges.
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FCM
A futures commission merchant accepts derivatives orders and customer assets used to margin or secure resulting trades.