In theory, the commodity futures markets are the essence of competition. All orders are required to be exposed to trading pits where traders vie competitively and aggressively to assure the best possible execution price. On the surface, as observed from the exchange galleries or on television,...

On ‘Black Monday,’ October 19, 1987, ‘perhaps the worst day in the history of U.S. equity markets,’ the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 508 points, representing a loss of approximately $1 trillion in the value of all outstanding United States stocks. In the wake of the crash,...