Slowing down the U.S. futures market by requiring that offers tobuy and sell remain available for a minimum amount of time wouldhurt investors by driving up their costs, an industry trade grouptold the nation's main derivatives regulator.

The Futures Industry Association (FIA) objected to such curbs ina comment letter yesterday to the U.S. Commodity Futures TradingCommission (CFTC), which had asked for input on reshaping themarket. The regulator is considering restrictions on high-frequencytrading, which involves computers capable of automatically placingorders in thousandths of a second or less.

Mandating a minimum resting time for orders, “while technicallyfeasible, will impose higher costs,” Jim Overdahl, an FIA adviserwho helped write the comment letter, said on a call with reporterstoday. Being able to quickly revise offered prices is how marketmakers control their risk, he said.