Future Trading Act Explained

Shorttitle:Futures Trading Act
Othershorttitles:Futures Trading Act of 1921
Longtitle:An Act taxing contracts for the sale of grain for future delivery, and options for such contracts, and providing for the regulation of boards of trade, and for other purposes.
Enacted By:67th
Effective Date:August 24, 1921
Title Amended:7 U.S.C.: Agriculture
Sections Amended: ยง 1
Introducedin:House
Introducedby:Jasper N. Tincher (R-KS)
Introduceddate:May 3, 1921
Committees:House Agriculture Committee
Passedbody1:House
Passeddate1:May 13, 1921
Passedvote1:269-69
Conferencedate:August 23, 1921
Passedbody3:House
Passeddate3:August 23, 1921
Passedvote3:341-9
Passedbody4:Senate
Passeddate4:August 23, 1921
Passedvote4:passed
Signedpresident:Warren G. Harding
Signeddate:August 24, 1921

The Future Trading Act of 1921 was a United States Act of Congress, approved on August 24, 1921, by the 67th United States Congress intended to institute regulation of grain futures contracts and, particularly, the exchanges on which they were traded. It was the second federal statute that attempted to regulate futures contracts after the short lived Anti-Gold Futures Act of 1864.

The act imposed a tax of 20 cents a bushel on all contracts for the sale of grain for future delivery other than those on exchanges regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that met standards set out in the statute. Twenty cents a bushel was considered a large sum by the standards of the day.

The Act was held to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hill v. Wallace on May 15, 1922. About four years later, on January 11, 1926, the Court announced a related decision in Trusler v. Crooks.

The Grain Futures Act of 1922 was ruled constitutional in Board of Trade of City of Chicago v. Olsen.