Pioneer Futures, Inc.

	Traders Institutional Introducing Brokers Commercial Traders

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Founded	1987
Headquarters	New York, Chicago
Key People	Vincent Viola, Founder And Director; Neil Citrone, President
Products	Futures Clearing and Execution

Pioneer Futures, Inc. was a futures commission merchant that offered clearing and execution services for introducing brokers, individual traders, and institutional investors, including CTAs and managed futures accounts.

The firm was founded by former NYMEX chairman Vincent Viola and was owned by Virtu and Teresa Viola.

It was registered with the National Futures Association as an approved forex firm, a notice registered broker-dealer and a futures commission merchant.

History

Pioneer Futures, Inc. was founded in 1985 by Vincent Viola. It became a clearing member of the NYMEX, COMEX and New York Board of Trade.

In 2004, Pioneer was sold to Refco Group Ltd. by Viola and continued to operate as a division of the firm until Refco's bankruptcy in 2005. Pioneer was subsequently sold to Man Financial Inc as part of its purchase of Refco's futures commission merchant business. Man Financial was later spun off from Man Group in an IPO and renamed MF Global. Pioneer operated as a division of MF Global until its bankruptcy in October of 2010. However, it dropped its registration on December 31, 2007 as MF Global's registration was withdrawn.

Enforcement History

In 1992, NYMEX took disciplinary action against exchange clearing member Pioneer Futures, Inc. The complaint alleged that Pioneer failed to timely submit reports and margin payments to NYMEX, exceeded its capital based position limits, failed to maintain the margin amounts required for some of its customers, and failed to notify the exchange regarding deficits and insufficient balances in customer accounts, in violation of exchange Rules. As part of a settlement, Pioneer was fined $90,000.

In 2007, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission settled recordkeeping charges against Pioneer Futures, Inc. The resulting CFTC order required Pioneer, a registered futures commission merchant (FCM), to pay a $25,000 civil monetary penalty, among other sanctions.

Products and Services

Pioneer offer clearing and execution services to futures clients, including local traders, institutional or individual investors, Commodity Trading Advisors and Introducing Brokers.

Pioneer offers clients access to the following exchanges in the U.S.:

• CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE)
• CME Group (CME/CBOT/COMEX/GLOBEX/NYMEX)
• Electronic Liquidity Exchange (ELX)
• ICE Futures Canada (formerly WCE)
• ICE Futures US (formerly NYBOT)
• Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT)
• Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX)
• Montreal Exchange (CDE)
• Montreal Exchange (MX)
• NYSE LIFFE US
• OneChicago (ONEC)

Pioneer offer clients access to the following European exchanges:

• Eurex
• ICE Futures Europe (ICE/ECX)
• Italian Derivatives Exchange Market (IDEM)
• London Metal Exchange (LME)
• NYSE Euronext
• Spanish Financial Futures & Options Exchange (MEFF)

Pioneer offers clients access to the following Asian and Pacific exchanges:

• Bursa Malaysia
• Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME)
• Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE)
• Korean Exchange (KRX)
• New Zealand Exchange (NZX)
• Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE)
• Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX)
• Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE)
• Taiwan Futures Exchange (Taifex)
• Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM)
• Tokyo Financial Exchange (TFX)
• Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)

Key People

• Vincent Viola, founder and director
• Neil Citrone, president
• Thomas Mitchell, head of business development
• Todd Fulton, vice president, managed futures