Agreement and the FCM’s exercise of its rights and remedies thereunder; (2) any failure by a Fund to comply with applicable law; (3) any action reasonably taken by the indemnified persons pursuant to the Futures Account Agreement to comply with applicable law; and (4) any actions taken by the FCM in reliance on instructions, notices and other communications that the FCM and its relevant personnel, as applicable, reasonably believes to originate from a person authorized to act on behalf of the Fund.
To the extent that the Funds trade in futures contracts on U.S. exchanges, the assets deposited by the Funds with the FCMs (or another eligible financial institution, as applicable) as margin must be segregated pursuant to the regulations of the CFTC. Such segregated funds may be invested only in a limited range of instruments—principally U.S. government obligations to margin futures and forward contract positions.
Each Fund currently uses Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith (“MLPF&S”), RBC Capital Markets, LLC (“RBC”), ED&F Man Capital Markets (“Man”), Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. (“DBSI”), SG Americas Securities, LLC (“SGAS”) and Barclays Capital Inc. (“BCI”) as an FCM. The FCMs used by a Fund may change from time to time. The above discussion relating to MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and BCI also would apply to other firms that serve as an FCM to the Funds in the future. Each of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and BCI in its capacity as a registered FCM, serves as a clearing broker to the Trust and the Funds and certain other funds of the Trust and as such arranges for the execution and clearing of the Funds’ futures transactions. All of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and BCI acts as clearing broker for many other funds and individuals. A variety of executing brokers may execute futures transactions on behalf of the Funds. The executing brokers willgive-up all such transactions to MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI as applicable. Each of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and BCI is registered as an FCM with the CFTC and is a member of the NFA. MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and BCI are clearing members of the CBOT, CME, NYMEX, and all other major U.S. commodity exchanges. None of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI is affiliated with or acts as a supervisor of the Trust, the Funds, the Sponsor, the Trustee or BNYM. (the Administrator, Transfer Agent and the Custodian). None of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI in its capacity as FCM, is acting as an underwriter or sponsor of the offering of the Shares, or has passed upon the merits of participating in this offering. None of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI has passed upon the adequacy of this Prospectus or on the accuracy of the information contained herein. None of MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI provides any commodity trading advice regarding the Funds’ trading activities. Investors should not rely upon MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS or BCI in deciding whether to invest in the Funds or retain their interests in the Funds. Prospective investors should also note that the Sponsor may select additional clearing brokers or replace MLPF&S, RBC, Man, DBSI, SGAS and/or BCI as the Funds’ clearing broker.
Futures Contracts and Options
A futures contract is a standardized contract traded on, or subject to the rules of, an exchange that calls for the future delivery of a specified quantity and type of a particular underlying asset at a specified time and place or alternatively may call for cash settlement. Futures contracts are traded on a wide variety of underlying assets, including bonds, interest rates, agricultural products, stock indexes, currencies, energy, metals, economic indicators and statistical measures. The notional size and calendar term futures contracts on a particular underlying asset are identical and are not subject to any negotiation, other than with respect to price and the number of contracts traded between the buyer and seller. Each Fund generally deposits cash and/or securities with an FCM for its open positions in futures contracts, which may, in turn, transfer such deposits to the clearing house to protect the clearing house againstnon-payment by the Fund. The clearing house becomes substituted for each counterparty to a futures contract, and, in effect, guarantees performance. In addition, the FCM may require the Funds to deposit collateral in excess of the clearing house’s margin requirements for the FCM’s own protection.
Certain futures contracts, including stock index contracts, VIX futures contracts and certain commodity futures contracts settle in cash. The cash settlement amount reflects the difference between the contract purchase/sale price and the contract settlement price. The cash settlement mechanism avoids the potential for either side to have to deliver the underlying asset. For other futures contracts, the contractual obligations of a buyer or seller may generally be satisfied by taking or making physical delivery of the underlying asset or by making an offsetting sale or purchase of an identical futures contract on the same or linked exchange before the designated date of delivery. The difference between the price at which the futures contract is purchased or sold and the price paid for the offsetting sale or purchase, after allowance for brokerage commissions, constitutes the profit or loss to the trader.
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