In the early 1980s investors stampeded into commodity trading funds.

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There are the purer speculators, which I think of as the professional commodity traders who are trading for themselves or for funds.

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Investors have piled into platinum, as seen by the rising net-long positions in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission data and record holdings in exchange-traded funds.

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For example, the FDIC has the authority to wind down unstable financial firms, banking regulators have a tighter grip on setting capital standards, the Securities and Exchange Commission will have greater oversight over hedge funds and private equity firms, and the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission will coordinate regulation of derivatives.

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The most recent positioning data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed that the large non-commercial accounts, commonly referred to as the funds, were net long by 140, 126 lots for futures and options combined as of the most recent reporting deadline of Aug. 21.

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The most recent data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed that the large non-commercial accounts, often referred to as the funds, stood net long by 244, 295 lots as of Oct. 9, which was more than double net length of 118, 223 as of Aug. 14.

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