A Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) is an intermediary in the futures markets. The FCM provides financial services for customers who need to manage their exposures to various futures products. The FCM also ensures that certain rules and regulations are followed by the clearing members. This is a multi-faceted role in which the FCM is responsible for ensuring that customers are given the best possible exposure to all the available futures products in a given market.Most of the futures brokers out there act as intermediaries between the buyer and seller of contracts. They facilitate the contract's trade, collecting a fee and doing the paperwork. But FCM's offer something different. Their main function is to provide customers access to the futures markets by placing their orders with commodity trading advisors (CTAs). They aren't a substitute for a financial advisor, but they can help you navigate the markets and get a better price -- or at least know where you stand. The job of an FCM is to ensure that as much information and knowledge is provided as possible to their customers, in order to maximize their trading results.The futures commission merchant (FCM) is responsible for ensuring that the customers' transactions are executed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the transactions. The FCM also executes customer orders and acts as a financial intermediary between the customer and the exchange. The FCM receives, stores and transmits funds on behalf of the customer, based upon instructions provided by the customer.
