A swap execution facility is a trading system or platform in which multiple participants can execute or trade swaps by accepting bids and offers made by multiple participants, that facilitates the execution of swaps between persons, and that is not a designated contract market (DCM)1. A facility for trading or processing swaps must be registered with the CFTC as a SEF or as a DCM.

Swaps that are required to be cleared must, in principle, be executed on a DCM or a SEF. The requirement does not apply to a swap that no DCM or SEF makes available to trade.

CFTC rules require a SEF to offer, at a minimum, an order book: a system in which all participants can enter multiple bids and offers, see the bids and offers of others, and transact on them2.

Notes

  1. Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) section 1a(50). ↩

  2. 17 CFR § 37.3(a)(2), (a)(3)(iii) (LII version, retrieved October 5, 2026). ↩