ICE Clear U.S. Membership Information

Clearing Membership
Information Pack
A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF ICE CLEAR U.S.
To prospective clearing members of ICE Clear U.S.:
Thank you for your interest in becoming a clearing member of ICE Clear U.S. As clearing house president, I welcome this opportunity to
provide information about ICE Clear U.S. and information on the process to become a member of our organization.
ICE Clear U.S. is a subsidiary of ICE Futures U.S. and serves as the clearing house for products traded on the Exchange. ICE Futures U.S. is the
successor organization to the New York Board of Trade and its affiliated clearing house, the New York Clearing Corporation. ICE Futures U.S.
and ICE Clear U.S., which are relatively new participants in the U.S. derivatives markets, benefit from the long and rich history of some the first
established futures markets in the U.S. The New York Board of Trade, prior to the acquisition by the IntercontinentalExchange, grew from the
merger of several of the original futures exchanges in New York. The oldest of these exchanges was the New York Cotton Exchange that was
established in 1870. Individual futures markets for coffee, sugar, cocoa and orange juice followed and eventually merged into the New York
Board of Trade. The New York futures markets for these “soft” commodities have had a long and storied role in the economic history of New
York and U.S. popular culture. In 2007, the New York Board of Trade was acquired by IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. As part of that acquisition,
the futures exchange was re-named ICE Futures U.S. and its clearing subsidiary became ICE Clear U.S.
The clearing services offered by ICE Clear U.S. provide a key role in the success of the markets of ICE Futures U.S. By serving as the central
counterparty to each matched trade, trading participants do not need to evaluate the credit potential of counterparties on each executed
transaction or limit their execution to a select group of counterparties. In addition, the risk management procedures and policies of ICE
Clear U.S. which include; intraday mark-to-market, the continuous margining of trading activity and positions, and a rigorous membership
process are designed to mitigate risk exposure to the clearing house and ensure the continued integrity of the marketplace. This discipline
and counterparty risk intermediation is the critical feature of ICE Clear U.S. that supports the availability of efficient and liquid markets of ICE
Futures U.S 1 .
The document that follows is designed to help you better understand the role of a new clearing member and the application process required
to become a clearing member of ICE Clear U.S. In this document you will learn more about clearing member responsibilities and operations of
ICE Clear U.S. The clearing membership application and supporting information has been assembled in both English and equivalent Mandarin
translations so you can better understand how the financial safeguards and operations of the clearing house work and to make it easier for
you to navigate through the application process to become a clearing member.
Both staff from the Exchange and from the clearing house stand ready to answer your questions and guide you through the requirements.
We look forward to your organization becoming a part of ICE Clear U.S. and taking its place on a membership roster that includes many of
the most distinguished participants in the financial industry.
Sincerely,
Thomas Hammond
1
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) is a leading operator of regulated futures exchanges and over-the-counter markets. ICE is also a leading operator of central clearing services for the futures and over-the-counter markets, with
five regulated clearing houses across North America and Europe. ICE serves customers in more than 70 countries.

ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ICE FUTURES U.S.
Products, Regulation, Market Participants, Trading Technology, Connectivity, Key Senior Contacts
3
ABOUT ICE CLEAR U.S.
Background, Role of the Clearing House, Clearing Member Financial Requirements, Customer Protection, Controlling
5
Risk Through Collection of Margin, Monitoring Risk Intra-day, Position Limits, The Guarantee Fund, Financial Stress,
General Contact Information, Website Links, Key Senior Contacts
MEMBERS OF ICE CLEAR U.S.
8
ICE CLEAR U.S. COMMUNICATIONS
Website Navigation and Subscriptions, Clearing Notices, ICE Community
9
APPLYING FOR ICE CLEAR U.S. MEMBERSHIP
Five Steps, Quick References, Summary of Financial Requirements (sidebar)
11
Submitting an Application for ICE Futures U.S. Membership
Submitting an Application for Member Firm Privileges
Securing IntercontinentalExchange Shares
Acquiring an ICE Futures U.S. Trading Membership
Submitting an Application for ICE Clear U.S. Membership
NFA Registration, Link to Online Application, Filing Financial Reports, Guaranty Fund, Capital Requirements
SETTING UP OPERATIONS AT ICE CLEAR U.S.
Banking and Treasury
16
Products Cleared by ICE Clear U.S., Acceptable Collateral, SPAN Margining, Link to ICE Futures U.S. Margins, Approved
Depository Banks
Delivery of Physical Commodities
Position Reporting
Position Change Sheet, Evening PCS, A.M. Position Adjustments
Clearing Technology
Extensible Clearing System (ECS) and Post Trade
Management System (PTMS)
Clearing Technology Special Purpose Applications
Trade Messages/MQ/FixML Messaging
Connectivity/MFT (Managed File Transfer)
Physical Commodity Deliveries/eCOPS (Electronic Commodity Operations System)
Automated Payment of Brokerage/ATOM (Automated Transfer of Money)

ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 3
A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF ICE FUTURES U.S.
ICE Futures U.S. (IFUS) is a leading regulated commodity futures exchange for the trading of agricultural commodities. IFUS and its predecessor
companies have offered trading in contracts based on agricultural commodities for over 130 years and IFUS maintains a strong franchise in
these products. The contracts are designed to provide effective pricing and hedging tools to industry users worldwide, as well as strategic
trading opportunities for investors. The prices for IFUS agricultural contracts serve as global benchmarks for the physical commodity markets,
including Sugar No. 11 (world raw sugar), Coffee “C” (Arabica coffee), Cotton No. 2 (cotton), Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice and Cocoa.
In 2012, IFUS broadened its commodity product suite to include financially-settled futures on US grains and oilseeds and options on those
futures.
IFUS offers financial products in equity index, currency and commodity index markets. The exchange lists futures and options contracts on
Russell indexes, including the US small cap equity benchmark Russell 2000® index, as well as the Russell 1000® and related style indexes. ICE
entered into a licensing agreement with Russell for the use of its indexes as the basis for equity index futures and options and ICE has exclusive
rights through the remainder of the licensing agreement, which extends through June 2017 1 .
IFUS also provides futures and options markets for over 60 currency pair contracts including euro-based, US dollar-based, yen-based, sterlingbased
and other cross-rates, as well as the benchmark US Dollar Index® futures contract. The US Dollar Index futures contract is based on the
ICE US Dollar Index, the most well-known and widely quoted measure of the performance of the US dollar. The exchange also offers futures
contracts based on the Continuous Commodity Index, or CCI, and the Reuters Jefferies CRB Futures Price Index.
The US Commodity Exchange Act generally requires that futures trading in the US be conducted on a commodity exchange registered as
a designated contract market by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC. ICE Futures U.S. operates as a designated contract
market and is regulated by the CFTC. ICE Futures U.S. is responsible for carrying out self-regulatory functions and has its own governance,
compliance, surveillance functions, as well as a framework for disciplining members and other market participants that do not comply with
exchange rules and policies. IFUS is periodically reviewed by the CFTC to insure that it is complying with its self-regulatory obligations.
The Rulebook for ICE Futures U.S. is available on the ICE website at: https://www.theice.com/Rulebook.shtmlfuturesUSRulebook=
MARKET PARTICIPANTS
ICE Futures U.S.’s participants include representatives from segments of the underlying industries served by its agricultural and financial
markets, including the sugar, coffee,cotton and cocoa industries. Traders in these futures markets include hedgers, speculators and investors.
Investors and speculators typically place orders through futures commission merchants (FCMs) or through introducing brokers (IBs) who
have clearing relationships with FCMs. Investors may also pool their funds with other investors in collective investment vehicles known as
commodity pools, which are managed by commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors (CTAs).
TRADING TECHNOLOGY
Trading of all ICE Futures U.S. listed products takes place electronically 2 . IFUS offers its screens for electronic trading in 30 jurisdictions.
IFUS uses the ICE electronic trading platform for it futures and options contracts. For futures-related products, the platform supports several
order types, matching algorithms, price reasonability checks, inter-commodity spread pricing and real-time risk management. ICE has also
developed an implied matching engine that automatically discovers best bid and offer prices throughout the forward curve.
The ICE platform delivers average round trip transaction times of approximately 700 microseconds in its futures markets (transaction time is
1
Subject to achieving specified volumes for the various indexes
2
In 2008, futures contracts at ICE Futures U.S. transitioned to exclusive electronic trading. In October 2012, open outcry trading of options came to an end. Some transactions, such as EFPs and blocks, are transacted privately
rather than on the electronic trading platform and submitted electronically for clearing using ICEBlock.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 4
measured round trip performance end-to-end within the ICE data center and through the ICE matching engine). ICE’s platform has proven to
be extremely consistent, with more than 99.5% of transactions being completed in less than twenty milliseconds during peak trading periods.
Along with speed and consistency, the ICE trading platform is reliable, typically offering greater than 99.99% availability.
CONNECTIVITY
ICE offers access to its electronic markets through a broad range of interfaces, including dedicated lines, server co-location data centers,
telecommunications hubs in the US, Europe and Asia, and directly via the Internet. The ICE global network consists of high speed dedicated
data lines connecting data hubs in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, London and Singapore with the exchange’s and clearing house’s primary
and disaster recovery data centers. ICE’s state-of-the-art hosting center is in Illinois, outside Chicago, and its disaster recovery site for its
technology systems is in Georgia.
ICE offers server co-location space at its data centers to all its customers. This service allows customers to deploy their trading servers and
applications onsite, virtually eliminating data transmission latency between the customer and the exchange.
ICE’s web-based front-end is called WebICE, and connectivity to the ICE trading platform is available through WebICE as well as multiple
independent software vendors (ISVs) 3 and application program interfaces (APIs) for order routing, market data and trade capture. Generally,
ICE has over 10,000 connections to its platform daily via WebICE and over 4,000 connections to its platform through multiple ISVs, colocation
centers, dedicated lines and global telecommunications hubs. ICE also has introduced ICE mobile for iPhone®, iPod Touch® and
iPad®, and Android® and Blackberry enabled devices. ICE mobile allows WebICE users the ability to view and manage their WebICE orders
from mobile devices as well as the option to enter orders and trade from certain mobile devices 4 .
KEY SENIOR EXCHANGE CONTACTS AT ICE FUTURES U.S.
President
Benjamin Jackson
T: +1 212 748 4150 E: Benjamin.Jackson@theice.com
General Counsel
Audrey Hirschfeld
T: +1 212 748 4083 E: Audrey.Hirschfeld@theice.com
Market Regulation, Compliance
and Market Supervision
Mark Fabian
T: +1 212 748 4010 E: Mark.Fabian@theice.com
Product Development
Tim Barry
T: +1 212 748 4096 E: Tim.Barry@theice.com
Market Development
and Customer Relations
Ray McKenzie
T: +1 212 748 4053 E: Ray.McKenzie@theice.com
3
ICE has approved a number of ISVs based on their technology offering and commitment to customer service. A list of the approved ISVs is available on the ICE website: theice.com/isv
4
These devices include the iPhone, IPad and Android devices.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 5
ABOUT ICE CLEAR U.S.
BACKGROUND
ICE Clear U.S. is the derivatives clearing organization for ICE Futures U.S., a commodity exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC). Although ICE Clear U.S. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICE Futures U.S., it maintains its own membership, Board
of Directors, officers and operating staff.
ICE Clear U.S. provides an integral service that enhances the stability and integrity of ICE Futures U.S. through a comprehensive set of
procedures that includes enforcement of stringent membership standards; management of risk through real-time oversight of clearing
member positions; twice daily margin settlements with its clearing members; limits on the size of positions that may be carried in relation to
a clearing member’s capital; and substantial default resources, including a Guaranty Fund. ICE Clear U.S. provides the financial backing for all
ICE Futures U.S. market participants and ICE Clear U.S. clearing members.
The ICE Clearing Systems encompass a number of integrated systems, most importantly the Post-Trade Management System, or PTMS,
Allocation and Claim Transaction System, or ACT, and the Extensible Clearing System, or ECS. PTMS provides real-time trade processing
services enabling clearing members to offer real-time risk management services. ACT provides for straight through processing of trade
executions given up to other clearing members. ECS supports open and delivery position management, real-time trade and post-trade
accounting, risk management (daily and intra-day cash, marked-to-market/option premium and original margin using the CME SPAN®
algorithm), collateral management, daily settlement and banking. Each of the parts of ICE Clear U.S. risk management process is explained
more fully below.
THE ROLE OF THE CLEARING HOUSE
Through its system of financial safeguards, ICE Clear U.S. Inc. (Clearing House) performs two major functions: (1) reconciling and clearing all
futures and options transactions executed on ICE Futures U.S. and (2) assuring the financial integrity of each transaction and resulting position.
When a trade has been matched and cleared, ICE Clear U.S. is substituted as the central counterparty to the trade, thereby guaranteeing
financial performance of the contract to the clearing member on the opposite side. In its role as counterparty for all cleared contracts, ICE
Clear U.S. deals exclusively with Clearing Members.
Each Clearing Member is financially responsible for the contracts it has submitted to ICE Clear U.S., and the Clearinghouse is responsible
to each Clearing Member for the net settlement from all contracts it clears. In support of its role as the central counterparty for all cleared
contracts, ICE Clear U.S. has instituted a series of financial safeguards and procedures designed to manage the risks it assumes and protect
the integrity of the Clearinghouse, as described below.
CLEARING MEMBERSHIP FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS
Only firms that have adequate capital are eligible to become members of ICE Clear U.S. Once admitted, Clearing Members must adhere to
stringent financial and operational requirements. Clearing Members must have at least $5,000,000 in adjusted net capital, and any Clearing
Member regulated by the CFTC must also satisfy applicable CFTC capital requirements and segregate and account for all customer funds
and property separate and apart from the Clearing Member’s own property. All clearing members must also be member firms of ICE Futures
U.S. (See section entitled Applying for ICE Clear U.S. Membership for a guide to becoming a member firm of ICE Futures U.S.) Additionally,
Clearing Members must institute risk management controls and demonstrate the operational capability to handle customer business. All
clearing members must establish banking arrangements with approved banks to facilitate payments to and from ICE Clear U.S.
CUSTOMER PROTECTION
The contracts cleared by ICE Clear U.S. are maintained in its records within two accounts or “origins.” These accounts isolate the clearing
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 6
activity related to a Clearing Member’s proprietary business in the “house” origin account and the clearing activity of clients into the “customer
segregated” origin account for each Clearing Member. The ICE Clear U.S. rules and Clearing Member Agreement clearly define the exclusive
relationship between ICE Clear U.S. and its members: https://www.theice.com/Rulebook.shtmlclearUSRulebook=
CONTROLLING RISK THROUGH THE COLLECTION OF MARGIN
Unique to the clearing of commodity futures contracts, two margin methods are used by ICE Clear U.S. to secure performance by its clearing
members. One method is the collection of variation margin based on the twice-daily mark-to-market of open contracts. Following this
procedure, ICE Clear U.S. typically collects from member firms the vast majority of its financial exposure from open positions before the end
of the trading day. The second margin method is the collection of original margin, which is a good-faith deposit designed to serve as security
for the payment of the Clearing Member’s variation margin obligations to the Clearing House. These two kinds of margin are described below.
Variation Margin
Variation margin covers the previous day’s open positions and the new positions resulting from the current day’s trading activity of the
clearing member. Variation margin for futures contracts can be paid to, and must be collected from, clearing members twice each day. The
intra-day variation calculation uses a prevailing market price whereas the end of day calculation uses the daily settlement price for each
futures contract.
In addition to the scheduled intra-day variation calculation, the Clearinghouse may initiate additional intra-day variation calls, for example, in
times of great volatility. These intra-day variation payments constitute advance payments against the end-of- day variation calculation. Calls
for intra-day variation payments by clearing members are required to be satisfied within 60 minutes of request by ICE Clear U.S.
Clearing members must pay the variation margin calculated at the end of each day by the morning of the following business day. The end-ofday
variation margin includes any remaining variation margin not paid or received from the prior day’s intra-day variation margin calls resulting
from price changes, new trading activity and option premiums.
Original Margin
Original margin is sometimes referred to as a performance bond and is calculated using the historical price volatility of the contract being
margined. It is collected to ensure Clearing Members can meet their variation margin obligations for the next day, should the market move
significantly against the positions they are carrying. ICE Clear U.S. calculates original margin requirements using a system that determines the
largest theoretical loss a Clearing Member could incur in one day based on historical market prices and volatility.
The Risk Department at ICE Clear U.S. uses a variety of analytical tools and procedures to establish and validate the margin requirement.
The Risk Department’s targeted minimum confidence interval covers the greater of 97th percentile or 99th confidence interval of one day
price moves during the preceding 10, 30, and 60 days. The Clearinghouse adjusts the margin requirement for each commodity up or down
as market volatility changes.
If a clearing member’s original margin requirement increases and ICE Clear U.S. is not holding sufficient excess cash or collateral from the firm
to cover the increase, ICE Clear U.S. will call that Clearing Member for additional original margin to meet the deficiency. This calculation is
made daily on the basis of each firm’s end-of-day positions. The clearing house is required to collect gross margins for customer segregated
positions from its clearing members. As such, clearing members are required to submit customer positions by account to the clearing house
on a daily basis. The positions reported by the clearing member are reconciled against the customer segregated positions in clearing. Those
positions that cannot be reconciled comprise a balancing account which is margined on an outright basis.
Monitoring Risk Intra-Day
Throughout the trading day, ICE Clear U.S. monitors the position and market exposure of each clearing member to ensure that there are
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 7
enough funds on deposit as original margin to cover their risk. This is done by calculating real time profit and loss using up-to-date position
and pricing information and by calculating potential losses using pricing information based on simulated adverse market conditions. ICE Clear
U.S. risk management staff is automatically notified when clearing members have breached pre-defined thresholds allowing them to take
immediate action to resolve any risk issues.
Position Limits
ICE Clear U.S. establishes for each clearing member a limit that restricts the size of the total positions it may carry with the Clearinghouse.
These limits are based on the adjusted net capital of the firm. If a Clearing Member exceeds its position limits, a margin surcharge is added
to its original margin requirement. ICE Clear U.S. may also reduce the position limits of a clearing member when circumstances warrant. (See
section 5.6, Position Risk, of ICE Clear U.S. Bylaws: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/clear/ICE_Clear_Bylaws.pdf)
The Guaranty Fund: Covering Unmargined Risk
The margin procedures and establishment of position limits by the Clearinghouse have proven, over time, to be a sound risk management
technique. It is possible, however, that extreme market conditions or special circumstances relating to a particular clearing member may
result in a default by a clearing member. ICE Clear U.S. further protects itself from such an event by maintaining a Guaranty Fund into which
each clearing member must make a specified contribution based on the percentage of the overall margins held by the Clearing House and of
the trading volume cleared by the Clearing House it represents. The minimum contribution by each clearing member to the Guaranty Fund
currently is $2,000,000. The Guaranty Fund provides ICE Clear U.S. with additional resources to cover a default where the losses of a clearing
member are greater than the amount of the original margin held by the Clearinghouse from that firm. In such a case, ICE Clear U.S. can
apply the clearing member’s Guaranty Fund contribution and, if any deficiency still remains, may apply all or any part of the Guaranty Fund
contributions of all other clearing members, in addition to utilizing other sources of funds described below. The size of the guaranty fund is
designed to cover the greatest potential loss at any one clearing member given the largest historical price move in any one commodity. (See
Section 5.4 Guaranty Fund of ICE Clear U.S. Bylaws: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/clear/ICE_Clear_Bylaws.pdf)
It is important to note that while ICE Clear U.S. has established the Guaranty Fund as a resource, the need to draw upon it has never arisen.
Financial Stress
The U.S. Bankruptcy Code contains provisions that allow the Clearinghouse to take actions to minimize its exposure to loss from an insolvent
clearing member. In addition, CFTC Regulations establish a regime governing the distribution of the assets of a bankrupt commodity broker. In
the event of a clearing member’s financial default, ICE Clear U.S. will suspend the clearing member and attempt to transfer all open positions
of its non-defaulting customers to one or more other clearing members who are in good standing. Any positions not transferred can be
liquidated by the Clearinghouse in the market or by book entry in certain cases. The Bylaws authorize ICE Clear U.S. to use the following
additional sources of funds in the event that the original margin deposits held by the Clearinghouse from a defaulting firm, along with that
firm’s Guaranty Fund deposit, is not sufficient to cover its obligation to ICE Clear U.S.:
• the portion of the surplus capital of ICE Clear U.S. that the Clearinghouse’s Board of Directors determines is available to cover the default;
• a loan, which may be secured by the Guaranty Fund;
• the Guaranty Fund (. For the most recent information regarding the size of Guaranty Fund, please see IntercontinentalExchange, Inc.’s most
recent 10-K or 10-Q SEC filing: http://ir.theice.com/sec.cfmDocType=Annual&Year=&FormatFilter=;
• insurance proceeds, if any, received by the Corporation in connection with the default; and
• assessments levied by the Clearinghouse upon all of the non-defaulting clearing members.
In addition, IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. has reserved $50,000,000 of a committed line of credit for the use of ICE Clear U.S. should it be
needed to provide short-term liquidity in the event of a clearing member default.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 8
ICE CLEAR U.S. MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS 5
ABN AMRO Clearing Chicago, LLC
ADM Investor Services, Inc.
Advantage Futures LLC
Barclays Capital Inc.
BNP Paribas Prime Brokerage, Inc
Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC
Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.
Dorman Trading, LLC
ED & F Man Capital Markets Inc.
F.C. Stone, L.L.C.
Getco LLC
G.H. Financials, LLC
Goldman Sachs & Company
Goldman Sachs Execution and Clearing
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.
Interactive Brokers LLC.
J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC
Jefferies Bache, LLC
Jump Trading Futures LLC
Knight Execution & Clearing Services LLC
Macquarie Futures USA, Inc
Marex North America LLC.
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc
Mizuho Securities USA, Inc
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC
Newedge USA, LLC
Rand Financial Services, Inc.
RBC Capital Markets, LLC.
RBS Securities Inc.
R.J. O’Brien & Associates, LLC.
Rosenthal Collins Group, L.L.C.
Santander Investment Securities, Inc
Term Commodities, Incorporated
UBS Securities, L.L.C.
Vision Financial Markets LLC
5
This list is current as January, 2013. The most current list of ICE Clear U.S. member organizations can be found online at: https://www.theice.com/clear_us_members.jhtml
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 9
ICE CLEAR U.S. COMMUNICATIONS
ICE CLEAR U.S. GENERAL PHONE NUMBER
ICE CLEAR U.S. MAILING ADDRESS
T: +1 212 748 4001 55 East 52 nd Street, New York, NY 10055
ICE CLEAR U.S. WEBSITE
https://www.theice.com/clear_us.jhtml
ICE FUTURES U.S. EXCHANGE AND CLEARING FEES (BUNDLED)
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Exchange_and_Clearing_Fees.pdf
KEY SENIOR CONTACTS AT ICE CLEAR U.S.
President
Thomas Hammond
T: +1 212 748 4115/+1 312 836 6714 E: Thomas.Hammond@theice.com
Chief Compliance Officer
Eric Nield
T: +1 312 836 6743 E: Eric.Nield@theice.com
VP, Clearing Operations
Brian Sayler
T: +1 212 748 4118 E: Brian.Sayler@theice.com
Director, Chicago Operations
Diane McFadden
T: +1 312 836 6719 E: Diane.McFadden@theice.com
Director of Risk
Bruce Domash
T: +1 312 836 6709 E: Bruce.Domash@theice.com
CLEARING NOTICES
One of the primary ways ICE Clear U.S. communicates with its clearing member community is by way of Clearing Notices. The Clearing
Notices regularly report margin changes, changes of rules and by-laws, system notices and calendars. One of the Clearing Notices published
each month is a calendar of events that includes holidays, new contracts and relevant delivery and expiration dates for that month. The
calendar is published at the end of each month for the next month’s events.
Every clearing member should subscribe to the Clearing Notices distribution. Any number of your company’s staff members may subscribe to
Clearing Notices by visiting: https://www.theice.com/Subscription.shtml, submitting an e-mail address, and choosing the ICE Clear US Feed.
Within the ICE Clear U.S. Feed, you may subscribe to Expiration Notices, General Information, and Margin notices; you may assign different
e-mail addresses to receive these notices, but someone at your firm should be receiving each kind of notice. The ICE Clear U.S. monthly
calendar is included in the General Information notices.
In addition to the items in the ICE Clear U.S. Feed, for clearing and delivery considerations you should consider subscribing to these items:
• from the ICE System Alert Feed, to the ICE Clear U.S. Alerts, which are time sensitive alerts sent by e-mail;
• from the Market Notices Feed, to the notices labeled “ICE Futures U.S.” — in particular to the ICE Futures U.S. Exchange Notices;
• from the General Information Feed, the ICE News Releases.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 10
ICE COMMUNITY
All clearing members are encouraged to sign up for access to ICE Community, an online network for clearing member firms that serves as a
resource for information on technical system specifications, commonly used forms required by ICE Clear U.S., clearing member contact lists
and recaps of the clearing member working group meetings. Users are also able to post documents and start discussions about ongoing ICE
projects or generic industry topics with others in the community. When ICE Clear U.S. is planning a major system initiative, a separate space is
be dedicated in ICE Community for system specifications, FAQs and manuals. Some documents are only available online at ICE Community.
To ensure that information is shared only with the community of ICE Clear U.S. members and service vendors, the application for admission to
ICE Community is password protected. Access to ICE Community can by requested at: https://community.theice.com
Once access is approved and users are logged in, users will note that there are several Communities (column on the left) from which to select,
ICE Clear being one among several. The space is also shared with other ICE clearing houses. Users should also take note of the Notifications
Heading on the lower right side of the page. ICE Community users receive email notifications when new or updated information is posted to
the Community.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 11
APPLYING FOR ICE CLEAR U.S. MEMBERSHIP
QUICK REFERENCES
To become a member of ICE Clear U.S., with clearing privileges for all contracts listed by the
Exchange, your firm must complete the following application process.
Contacts
The primary contact for Steps One
through Four is the ICE Futures U.S.
membership department, Linda Chin,
Senior Membership Services Coordinator.
Linda can be reached at 212-748-4166,
linda.chin@theice.com
The primary contact for Step Five is Brian
Sayler, Vice-President, ICE Clear U.S., 212-
748-4118, brian.sayler@theice.com
$ FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS
• $750 Membership Application Fee (for
Step One)
• $1,000 Membership Initiation Fee (for
Step One)
• $750 Member Firm Application Fee
(for Step Two)
• Market price for one ICE Futures U.S.
Trading Membership
• 3,162 shares of
IntercontinentalExchange stock
(NYSE:ICE)
• $1,500 Clearing Member Application
Fee (Step Five)
• Once the application for membership
in ICE Clear U.S. is approved, a
contribution to the Guaranty Fund; the
minimum Guaranty Fund deposit is
$2,000,000 (See Step Five).
• The minimum net capital requirement
for clearing members is $5,000,000.
1. A qualified representative of your firm must apply to become and be approved as an
individual Exchange member by the Exchange and the Exchange’s membership committee.
2. Your firm must apply and be approved as a member firm of the Exchange (this application
may be submitted at the same time as the application for individual membership).
3. Your firm must secure 3,162 shares of IntercontinentalExchange common stock (NYSE:ICE),
pledge the shares to the Exchange, and place the shares in a restricted account held in the
name of your organization at Computershare Investor Services.
4. Your firm must acquire one Trading Membership in ICE Futures U.S.
5. Your firm must apply for clearing membership in ICE Clear U.S. and be approved as a
clearing member by the Board of ICE Clear U.S.
Each of these steps is discussed in more detail on the following pages.
MAILING ADDRESS
ICE Futures U.S.
55 East 52 nd Street, New York, NY 10055
ONLINE INFORMATION
Member Services
theice.com/futures_us_membership.jhtml
ICE Clear U.S
theice.com/clear_us.jhtml
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 12
1. SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP AT ICE FUTURES U.S.
One of the officers, directors or executive employees or managers of your firm must complete an application for a trading membership at the
Exchange and be approved by the Exchange and the Exchange’s membership committee. The person who applies for membership must be a
full-time employee of your firm and exercise authority over the firm’s activities on the Exchange. (A qualified person at your firm must become
an Exchange member because only members of the Exchange may purchase the trading membership your firm must have to become an
Exchange member firm, and ICE Clear rules require that your firm must be an Exchange member firm to become an ICE Clear U.S. clearing
member.)
The application for membership is available at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Form_M01_Application_for_Membership.pdf
The application may be completed online, downloaded, printed and signed.
A non-refundable $750 application fee must accompany the application. All fees should be in the form of a check or money order payable to
ICE Futures U.S.
The completed application, along with attachments and fees, should be returned to:
Linda Chin
Senior Membership Services Coordinator, Member Services Department,
ICE Futures U.S., 55 East 52 nd Street, New York, NY 10055
At least ten days prior to any consideration of an application by the Exchange, the name and address of an applicant is sent to all members of
ICE Futures U.S; this ten day period should be added to the your projected time line for the length of the application procedure.
Completed applications are submitted to investigation, a process that normally takes two weeks. The report from the investigators, along with
the application, is sent to the ICE Futures U.S. Membership Committee for review and approval. The Membership Committee review should
also be completed within a two week period after it receives the investigation report. You will be notified of committee approval by phone at
the preferred contact number indicated on your application. The phone notification will be followed up by a mailed notice of approval.
Once your application is approved by the Exchange and the Exchange Membership Committee, you have thirty days to purchase and pay
for one ICE Futures U.S. trading membership and pay a $1,000 initiation fee. Again, the fee should be in the form of a check or money order
payable to ICE Futures U.S. Incomplete applications are kept on file for two months. After that time, the application is considered withdrawn
and a new application must be submitted.
2. SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO RECEIVE MEMBER FIRM PRIVILEGES.
By submitting this application, the individual at your firm who has been approved as an ICE Futures U.S. member requests that the Exchange
confer member firm privileges on your firm. This application can be submitted along with the application for individual membership described
in Step One.
There is a $750 application fee associated with the member firm application, again payable by check or money order to ICE Futures U.S.
The member firm application form is available at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Form_C01_Application_to_Receive_Member_Firm_Privileges.pdf
It can be filled out online, printed and returned to the ICE Futures U.S. membership department at the address shown above.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 13
In the case of a corporation, the application must be signed by an officer. Corporations applying for member firm privileges must provide
a copy of the certificate of incorporation, including all amendments, by-laws, and a resolution of the board of directors authorizing the
application for member firm privileges certified by the secretary of the corporation. The application also asks for a designated exchange
liaison.
In order to recognize the membership as an asset of the firm, an A-B-C agreement must be completed and signed by an officer of the firm
and the applicant. The completed agreement should accompany your application.
The Exchange’s A-B-C agreement may be found at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Form_S06_ABCAgreement.pdf
This application, application fee and attachments should be submitted to the ICE Futures U.S. membership department at the address shown
in Step One. The notice that your firm has been approved as a member firm of the Exchange should be received within approximately two
weeks of submission.
3. SECURE 3,162 SHARES OF INTERCONTINENTALEXCHANGE, PLEDGE THE SHARES TO ICE FUTURES U.S., AND PLACE THE STOCK IN
A RESTRICTED ACCOUNT AT COMPUTERSHARE INVESTOR SERVICES
Please call Linda Chin at the ICE Futures membership department (212-748-4166) to request that a restricted account be set up in your
company’s name at Computershare Investor Services, the Exchange’s transfer agent. Your firm should then instruct its broker to transfer the
required number of ICE shares to the Computershare account. (The shares may either have been held by your firm previously or acquired
in open market transactions.) This account is monitored by the Exchange to assure that the required number of shares for clearing member
status is maintained.
After your account is set up, you can visit: computershare.com to monitor and value your stock position.
4. ACQUIRE ONE ICE FUTURES U.S. TRADING MEMBERSHIP
Once the qualifying person at your firm has applied for and been approved as an individual member of the Exchange and the ICE stock is in
the restricted account at Computershare Investor Services, your firm must acquire one ICE Futures U.S. Trading Membership.
The current bid/offer prices for the membership can be viewed at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Membership_Seat_Market.pdf
To purchase a Trading Membership, the person at your firm who has been approved as a member must submit a bid form in writing to the
Exchange. Typically, a bid form is provided to you by the ICE Futures U.S. membership department at the point in the application process
at which a trading membership needs to be acquired; if you have not received the bid form, the form is available from the membership
department (the bid form is not online). The completed bid form maybe submitted in person at the ICE Futures U.S. membership department
in New York, by fax to +1 212 748 4808, attn. Linda Chin, or by e-mail to: Linda.Chin@theice.com
Notification of the acceptance of your bid and the name of the seller will be delivered by phone to the preferred contact phone number on
your bid form and by e-mail. Within ten days of the acceptance notice, an Official Teller’s Check or Certified Check payable to the seller must
be submitted to the membership department. The check may be delivered to the Exchange membership department or sent to Linda Chin
at the address given above.
Special Note: Large Trader Reporting Requirements
CFTC regulations require all clearing members to report the positions of large traders daily. Large traders are customers of clearing members
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 14
who have open positions at the end of the day exceeding reportable position levels. The reportable position levels are established by ICE
Futures U.S. Although the large trader reporting requirements are not clearing house regulations, clearing members fulfill their large trading
reporting requirements with respect to ICE Futures U.S. products by transmitting a file containing the applicable information to ICE Clear U.S.,
which then passes the information to the CFTC. The large trader report is submitted via the clearing house’s Managed File Transfer (MFT)
protocol that is discussed in the Clearing Technology, Special Purpose Applications section of this document.
A table with the reportable levels of all ICE Futures US listed products can be found at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us_reports/all/Futures_US_Reportable_Levels.pdf
The file format for the larger trader report can be found at: https://www.cftc.gov/industryoversight/marketsurveillance/ltrformat
Special Note: Automated Payment of Brokerage Commissions (ATOM)
ICE clearing members may use the Exchange’s automated payment system (ATOM) for paying brokerage commissions to ICE Futures
U.S. members. Use of this system is not mandatory. Applications for clearing member participation in ATOM are handled through the ICE
Futures U.S. membership department. The ATOM system is discussed in the Clearing Technology, Special Purpose Applications section of this
document.
5. COMPLETE AN APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP IN ICE CLEAR U.S.
NFA REGISTRATION
An applicant firm may need to be registered with the U.S. futures industry’s self regulatory organization, the National Futures Association
(NFA), to conduct its U.S. business. An applicant organization that intends to clear business for U.S. customers must be registered with
the NFA as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) or a Broker Dealer (BD). An applicant firm intending to clear proprietary business only
is not required to register with the NFA. Please visit: nfa.org for more complete information.
Your organization is required to complete an application to become a member of ICE Clear U.S. Contacts for help with the ICE Clear U.S.
application can be found on the first page of this section. Payment of a $1,500 application fee must accompany the application.
The application for clearing membership is available at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/Clear_US_Member_Application.pdf
An applicant is required to file financial reports at the time of application and on an on-going basis as a condition of clearing membership.
Reports are to be filed through the Winjammer service. Within Winjammer, the applicant firm enables reports to be distributed to ICE Clear
U.S.
The rules regarding the financial reporting requirements of clearing members are in ICE Clear U.S. Rules, section 3:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/clear/3_Financial_Requirements.pdf
The WinJammer Online Filing System is a web application developed jointly by the CME Group, Inc. and the National Futures Association.
WinJammer is the futures industry standard for futures firms to enter and transmit FOCUS, 1FR-FCM, Segregated Investment Detail Reports
(SIDR) and other financial statements. Steps for getting your firm ready to file WinJammer reports can be found at:
https://www.nfa.futures.org/NFA-electronic-filings/winJammer.html
Once your organization’s completed clearing member application is submitted, the risk department of ICE Clear U.S. performs a due diligence
review, including a risk review. Elements of this review include a discussion of the applicant firm’s financial statements and capital position and
an examination of its risk monitoring procedures. Following the review, the risk department makes a recommendation to ICE Clear U.S.’s Risk
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 15
Committee. The Risk Committee considers the staff recommendation and makes a recommendation to the ICE Futures U.S. Board of Directors
for final approval. The Risk Committee and the Board normally meet monthly and quarterly, respectively. The process from the submission of
your firm’s application to approval by the Board can be expected to take approximately four to six weeks under normal circumstances.
When your organization’s application for clearing membership is approved, your firm is required to make a minimum Guaranty Fund deposit
of $2,000,000. (Once your firm has been a clearing member for at least one month, its contribution to the Guaranty Fund Is based on the
normal calculation for Guaranty Fund contributions described in Section 5.4 of the ICE Clear U.S. by-laws.) Guaranty Fund requirements must
be met with US dollar-denominated collateral.
The ICE Clear By-Law 5.4 that describes the calculation of Guaranty Fund contributions can be found at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/clear/ICE_Clear_Bylaws.pdf
The minimum net capital required of ICE Clear U.S. clearing members is $5,000,000.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 16
SETTING UP OPERATIONS AT ICE CLEAR U.S.
JOIN THE ICE COMMUNITY INFORMATION NETWORK!
ICE Community is an information network website for clearing member firms. It serves as a valuable resource for clearing system
specifications information, required forms, clearing member contact lists and recaps of clearing member working group meetings and
certain documents are not accessible except on this site. A user name and password are required. If staff members from your organization
are not using ICE Community, registration is available at: https://community.theice.com
BANKING AND TREASURY
ICE Clear U.S. clears contracts that settle (require the payment of daily variation margin) in U.S. dollars, so each clearing member must have
a U.S. dollar settlement account.
ICE Clear U.S. also clears a number of currency contracts that settle in twelve foreign currencies. In order to clear the Exchange’s currency
contracts, a clearing member also must have a settlement account in the settlement currency specified for the contract.
A list of the ICE Futures U.S. currency contracts cleared by ICE Clear U.S. can be viewed at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/ICE_Futures_US_Currency_Pair_Contracts.pdf
The settlement currency is the currency of the price quotation.
ICE Clear U.S. calculates original margin requirements for each clearing member position account as part of end-of-day processing using the
SPAN margining system. Margins are calculated on a gross basis for customer segregated positions based on position information by account
that is submitted by the clearing members. Margins are calculated on a net basis for proprietary position accounts.
Margins on deposit are compared to the new original margin requirement to determine whether a clearing member has an original margin
deficiency or surplus. Original margin requirements may be met with cash or with acceptable collateral.
View a table with information about acceptable collateral at ICE Clear U.S. and haircuts on each type of collateral at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/ICUS_Collateral_Information.pdf
An explanation of the SPAN margining system can be found at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/SPAN_Explanation.pdf
Current ICE Futures U.S. margin requirements for contracts cleared by ICE Clear U.S. are available at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us_reports/all/Futures_US_Margin_Requirements.pdf
Clearing members are required to establish and maintain banking relationships with one or more of the clearing house’s approved depositories
listed below for the purpose of meeting daily cash and collateral margin requirements.
The list of approved depository banks is online at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/Approved_Depositories.pdf
US Dollar Margin Settlement
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Brown Brothers Harriman & Company
• Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 17
• JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
• BMO Harris Bank N.A.
Foreign Currency Margin Settlements
• Brown Brothers Harriman & Company
• JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
• BMO Harris Bank N.A.
Custody
• Brown Brothers Harriman & Company
• JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.
• BMO Harris Bank N.A.
A clearing member must designate to ICE Clear U.S. which of these three custodian banks will hold its margin securities.
PHYSICALLY-DELIVERED CONTRACTS
Clearing members are required to have expertise about the delivery provisions of ICE Futures U.S. physically-delivered contracts if they plan
to engage in activity in those markets.
Agricultural Contracts
Currently, the ICE Futures U.S. agricultural contracts that include a delivery of physical commodity for final settlement are coffee, sugar, cocoa,
cotton and orange juice. Rules governing physical delivery for each deliverable agricultural commodity can be found in the ICE Futures U.S.
Rulebook at these locations.
Cocoa:
Coffee:
Cotton:
Orange Juice:
Sugar:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/9_Cocoa.pdf
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/8_Coffee.pdf
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/10_Cotton.pdf
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/13_FCOJ.pdf
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/11_Sugar_11.pdf
For contracts that settle through physical delivery of an agricultural commodity, a clearing member uses the Exchange’s eCOPS application
to enter positions for allocation of delivery notices, to issue notices of delivery and to manage receipts for physical product when applicable.
More details about using the eCOPS system can be found in the Clearing Technology, Special Purpose Applications section of this document.
Financial Contracts
Financial contracts requiring physical delivery are the ICE Futures U.S. Dollar Index and currency futures contracts.
Delivery procedures for ICE Futures U.S. currency contracts are found in the Exchange rulebook:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/16_Currencies.pdf, Rule 16.04
Physical delivery of eligible foreign currencies at the final settlement of an ICE Futures U.S. currency futures contract, including final settlement
for the ICE U.S. Dollar Index contract, is completed through CLS, the multi-currency cash settlement system owned by the major FX banks. A
clearing member must have access to CLS either as a direct member or third-party client. Participation in CLS should be arranged through a
clearing firm’s bank. More information about CLS can be found at: http://www.cls-group.com/Pages/default.aspx
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 18
Examples of the Dollar Index contract’s USDX final settlement procedures are available in the US Dollar Index FAQ:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/ICE_Dollar_Index_FAQ.pdf
POSITION REPORTING
Positions are maintained within the clearing house system on a gross basis. In order to maintain updated positions (prior day’s positions
adjusted for current day—also called top day—trading), clearing members are required to make evening and morning submissions to the
clearing house.
PCS (Position Change Submission)
PCS instructions are used by members as the means through which clearing members notify the clearing house of adjustments to the open
positions on gross maintained position accounts. Broadly, these are used to notify the clearing house of a close-out or establishment of a
position and are required by the clearing house and the Exchange in order to maintain an accurate view of open interest and ensure that
positions that are subject to option exercise and delivery activity are correct at the time of options exercise or delivery allocation.
PCS files are submitted to the clearing house through ICE Clear U.S.’s Managed File Transfer (MFT) service. More information about MFT is
available in the Clearing Technology, Special Purpose Applications section of this document. FixML file specifications for PCS can be found in
ICE Community: https://community.theice.com
Evening PCS
A position change submission (PCS) file should be delivered to the clearing house each evening. The evening submission details the clearing
member’s updated gross position in each ICE Futures U.S. contract. The submission deadline for the evening PCS is 7:00PM ET.
AM Position Adjustments
A clearing member may make adjustments to its prior-day gross positions through the clearing system user interface (see ECS, below) the
day after trade day. The submission deadline for the morning position adjustment is 9:00AM ET.
GCM (GROSS CUSTOMER MARGIN) REPORTING
GCM files are used to determine a clearing member’s positions for the purpose of calculating original margin. In addition to PCS submission,
clearing members must also submit a GCM file of customer positions by account. The positions reported in the GCM file are reconciled against
the positions in clearing after the processing of PCS. Unreconciled positions are included in a balancing account which is margined on an
outright basis and added to the clearing member’s margin calculation.
CLEARING TECHNOLOGY
ICE clearing systems encompass a number of integrated systems, most importantly, the Extensible Clearing System, or ECS, and the Post-
Trade Management System, or PTMS, and ACT (Allocation and Claim Transaction) system. Clearing members are given access to all clearing
system applications necessary to meet clearing member requirements.
Extensible Clearing System (ECS)
Internet-based ECS is the core clearing system. ECS supports open and delivery position management, real-time trade and post-trade
accounting, risk management (daily and intra-day cash, mark-to-market option premium, and original margin using the CME SPAN algorithm),
collateral management, daily settlement and banking. ECS is a state-of-the-art system offering open, Internet-based connectivity and
integration options for clearing member access to user and account management, position reporting and collateral management. ECS also
has a reporting system that delivers on-line access to daily and historical reports in multiple formats, as well as a currency delivery system to
manage the delivery and payment of currency settlements.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 19
ECS is password protected. Visit: https://ecs.usclearing.theice.com for login access to ECS. The ECS manual can be found at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/ICUS_ECS_Procedures.pdf
Post Trade Management System (PTMS)
PTMS is the primary application for post-trade management. The system provides real-time trade processing services enabling clearing
members to offer real-time risk management services. ICE Clear U.S. offers real-time confirmation of trades booked for clearing over standard
FIXML API and supports post-trade management functions including trade corrections, trade adjustments, position transfers, average pricing
and give-up processing.
PTMS is password protected. Login access to PTMS training guides and both test and production systems is at:
https://ptms.usclearing.theice.com/client/ptms.jnlp
A PTMS User Manual can be accessed at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/ICE_Clear_US_PTMS2_User_Guide.pdf
Allocation and Claim Transaction (ACT) System
Trades marked for give-up in PTMS are sent to ACT. Using ACT, a clearing member can initiate allocations (give-outs) to multiple clearing
members and monitor the status of those allocations as well as the status of give-ins from other firms. ACT also allows a clearing member to
define profiles to automate the allocation and claiming of trade activity. Give-up transactions (from and to) are recorded in the clearing system
and reflected on the clearing member’s clearing records. Information about the give-up transactions is also sent for billing to the eGains
system, an automated billing system supported by the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and Markit.
Exchange fee billing for give-up transactions passes charges to the ultimate carrying (claiming) firm. A clearing member is not assessed
exchange fees for trades it executes and allocates to other clearing members. A fee of $ .10 per contract side ($ .05 for Russell stock index
mini contracts) is assessed to the claiming firm for allocation records processed in clearing.
Login is required for the ACT system. Login access to both test and production systems and trading guides is at:
https://www.theice.com/clear_us_technology.jhtml
Technical specifications for ACT are available in ICE Community — https://community.theice.com — registration required:
https://community.theice.com/community/ice_clear/technical_specifications
An ACT Training Guide can be found at: https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/clear_us/ACT_TrainingGuide.pdf
An updated list of ACT contacts for each clearing member: https://community.theice.com/docs/DOC-1792 is available through ICE
Community (registration required).
CLEARING TECHNOLOGY: SPECIAL PURPOSE APPLICATIONS
ICE Clear U.S offers a number of special purpose applications to handle specific clearing tasks and services. These applications are described
below, along with information about setting up to use the application.
FOR RECEIVING TRADE MESSAGES
MQ/FixML Messaging
A clearing member typically receives trade messages during the trading day to load to internal bookkeeping and risk systems. ICE Clear U.S
uses the industry standard FixML trade confirmation messages sent over MQ channels set up with the clearing member.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 20
Messaging specifications and a set-up questionnaire are available in ICE Community, the information network for clearing member firms. (A
clearing member can register for ICE Community at: https://community.theice.com).
FixML specifications are available in ICE Community at: https://community.theice.com/community/ice_clear/technical_specificationsFixML
real-time trade feeds specifications, along with a set-up questionnaire, are available in ICE Community at:
https://community.theice.com/community/ice_clear/technical_specifications
FOR CONNECTIVITY
MFT (Managed File Transfer)
The ICE Clear U.S. MFT service is a member interface that provides access to key reports and data published by the clearing house. It is also
the service that a clearing firm uses to send important data, including regulatory reports and position change and gross customer margin
submissions, to the clearing house. MFT is not a browser based application. Connectivity to MFT is provided through SFTP client software.
The system URL for the MFT system is: mft.usclearing.theice.com
The MFT User Access Form is available at: https://community.theice.com/docs/DOC-10017
A MFT User Guide is available at: https://community.theice.com/docs/DOC-10016
Please note that the documents are only available to users registered on the ICE Community site.
The following reports and files are sent/received via MFT.
FROM ICE CLEAR U.S. TO CLEARING MEMBERS (CLEARING MEMBER DOWNLOADS)
Billing
ICE Clear U.S. provides clearing members with a report of monthly exchange and clearing fee details on a preliminary daily and final monthly
basis. A summary of fees is processed through the clearing member’s proprietary settlement account on a date determined by the clearing
house. The most current ICE Futures U.S. Exchange and Clearing Fees can always be found at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/Exchange_and_Clearing_Fees.pdf
Scroll to the bottom of the document for miscellaneous clearing fees and charges.
Reconciliation
Matchoff file: ICE Clear U.S. provides a data file version of the Trade and Position Register that clearing members can use in their point balance
systems.
Exercise/Assignments: ICE Clear U.S. provides a data file version of the Exercise/Assignment report that clearing members can use to automate
the assignment of options in their bookkeeping systems.
The FixML Matchoff file and Exercise/Assignment file layouts can be found at:
https://community.theice.com/community/ice_clear/technical_specifications
Clearing Reports
ICE Clear U.S. provides numerous reports and data files that relate to trades, positions, banking and billing, all of which are available on MFT.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 21
Clearing members should refer to ICE Clear – Member Report Specification which is available in ICE Community:
https://community.theice.com/docs/DOC-11146
FROM CLEARING MEMBERS TO ICE CLEAR U.S. (CLEARING MEMBER UPLOADS)
• PCS File (See Position Change Submission, above)
• Large Trader Report
• Gross Customer Margins (GCM) (see GCM Reporting, above)
• Submission of Bulk Cotton Notices
FOR PHYSICAL DELIVERY OF COMMODITIES
eCOPS (Commodity Operations and Processing System)
eCOPS is the Exchange’s Internet-based electronic warehouse receipt inventory system, used to manage the ownership of exchange-delivered
and commercial physical product. eCOPS handles all the functions and documentation to make physical delivery of cotton, coffee, cocoa and
frozen orange juice. Notices of delivery for cotton, orange juice, coffee, cocoa, and Sugar #11 are entered and detailed by clearing members
in eCOPS.
The general eCOPS portal website is: https://delivery.usclearing.theice.com/gateway/pages/pub/apply.jsp
A clearing member is required to register with eCOPS as part of the clearing member application process. To register with eCOPS LLC, a
registration application and user agreement must be completed.
The eCOPS General Purpose Application and Participant Agreement form may be downloaded at:
https://delivery.usclearing.theice.com/gateway/pdf/eCOPS_General_Application_plus_User_Agreement.pdf
The eCOPS form should be completed, dated , signed and and returned with the Clearing Member application.
The eCOPS site requires a login. Please contact eCOPS Customer Support at +1 212 748 4110 or: commoditiesoperations@theice.com for
assistance.
New users can take advantage of training via a live WebEx tutorial by commodity operations staff.
Special Note: Cotton Deliveries
A clearing member that intends to participate in the physical delivery of Cotton #2 is required to open a Holder ID account with EWR, Inc.
Details regarding this account and information about cotton delivery are available from the Exchange’s Commodity Operations Department
(+1 212 748 4110 or e-mail: commoditiesoperations@theice.com).
A schedule of eCOPS fees is viewable at: https://delivery.usclearing.theice.com/gateway/pdf/fee.pdf. For Automated Payment of Brokerage
Commissions
ATOM (Automated Transfer of Money)
The ATOM system is an electronic brokerage billing payment system. By using ATOM, the clearing member authorizes the Exchange to make
automatic debit entries to its account for the payment of brokerage commissions. Participation in this system is not mandatory. The ATOM
system is administered by the ICE Futures U.S. membership department.
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ICE Clear U.S. Clearing Membership Information Pack 22
The ATOM processing agreement for clearing members can be downloaded at:
https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/ATOM_CM_Agreement.pdf
The fees for the ATOM service can be found in the agreement.
The completed ATOM agreement should be returned to:
Member Services Department
ICE Futures U.S., 55 East 52 nd Street, New York, NY 10055
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