Onion Futures Act

Onion Futures Act

Long title	An act to prohibit trading in onion futures on commodity exchanges
Enacted by	the 85th United States Congress
Effective	August 28, 1958
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 85–839
Statutes at Large	72 Stat. 1013
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	7 U.S.C. § 13-1
Legislative history
Introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 376 by Gracie Bowers Pfost on January 3, 1957 Committee consideration by United States House Committee on Agriculture Passed the House on March 13, 1958  Passed the Senate on July 11, 1958  Signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower on August 28, 1958
Major amendments
Dodd-Frank Wallstreet Reform and Consumer Protection Act

The Onion Futures Act is a United States law banning the trading of futures contracts on onions as well as "motion picture box office receipts".^[1]

In 1955, two onion traders, Sam Siegel and Vincent Kosuga, cornered the onion futures market on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The resulting regulatory actions led to the passing of the act on August 28, 1958. As of July 2024^[update], it remains in effect.^[1]

The law was amended in 2010 to add motion picture box office futures to the list of banned futures contracts, in response to lobbying efforts by the Motion Picture Association of America.^[2]