There have long been concerns about the role that index investors play in the commodities market. Some believe that the passive, long-only nature of index investments may be inflating commodity prices and increasing volatility in the marketplace.

The clamor of voices calling for stricter position limits on commodities futures grew significantly louder this summer, as the CFTC convened hearings to discuss the possibility of implementing strict futures position limits on all commodity “speculators” (a category that includes index funds and exchange-traded products).

This summer, four exchange-traded products voluntarily halted the issuance of new shares, fearing that they would grow too large to cope with the coming position limits.

The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE Arca: UNG), the PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long Exchange Traded Note (NYSE Arca: DXO), the iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust (NYSE Arca: GSG) and the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas ETN (NYSE Arca: GAZ) all froze share creations during the summer.

DXO took things further, as its sponsor decided to liquidate the fund and distribute the cash proceeds to investors on Sept. 9. DXO was designed to provide 200 percent of the monthly return of the near-month crude oil futures contract. When its liquidation was announced on Sept. 1, it had $425.8 million in assets.

In a release, Deutsche Bank said: “Limitations imposed by the exchange on which Deutsche Bank manages the exposure of the Notes have resulted in a ‘regulatory event’ as defined in the terms of the Notes, which has caused Deutsche Bank to redeem the Notes.”

The decision was surprising because, despite expectations that the CFTC was readying new position limits, those limits had not actually been announced. The press release suggested that the New York Mercantile Exchange had taken it upon itself to enforce position limits immediately.

Deutsche Bank said specifically that none of its other commodity ETNs or exchange-traded funds would be impacted.

As this issue went to print, it remained unclear how the questions regarding position limits on commodities futures would be resolved.