Liquidity crisis of Paris sugar futures market1974 September-165438+ 10, the price of Paris sugar futures doubled in just three months. Faced with this situation, some clearing members of the exchange did not take preventive measures, but still traded according to the entrustment of customers, which eventually led to a large number of investors unable to meet the margin demand. The mistakes of sugar merchants of settlement member Nataf eventually led to the closure of the French sugar market. In this crisis, the Paris Sugar Market Clearing House made mistakes in the following three aspects, which aggravated the liquidity crisis. First of all, in the case of drastic fluctuations in market prices, it did not adjust the margin level, but still adopted a fixed margin level. Even when all parties in the market demanded margin adjustment in September, the clearing house still went its own way. Second, although the exchange has realized that the single clearing member (Nataf) holds most of the contracts in the sugar futures market, it has not taken corresponding measures. Third, the loss distribution of the exchange lacks transparency. At that time, the exchange issued the rules for restarting trading, and the market contract was settled at the average price of the past 20 trading days (this price is much higher than the price when trading was suspended). This rule caused a series of legal disputes in the subsequent implementation, and the bankruptcy of the settlement institution in fulfilling the contract settlement obligation aggravated the difficulty of solving this incident. It was not until June of 1976 that the sugar market under the new trading rules resumed trading. Judging from the liquidity crisis of 1974 Paris sugar market, it is very necessary to dynamically monitor the positions of clearing members and limit their positions. In addition, in order to prevent further accumulation of risks, exchanges and clearing institutions should adjust the margin according to market risks.