Thanks, Billy. I'm not as optimistic as McClellan about this getting wrapped up quickly, though. The CME's "guarantee" is a bit misleading, since only $50 million would be allocated immediately. The rest is more like an insurance policy if the Trustee "overpays" the customers from remaining assets. Neither SIPC nor the liquidation trustee have any experience with futures brokers, and the trustee is incentivized to drag this out as long as possible to earn $891 per hour.

Claims forms have now been released by the trustee here. While it is expected that all customers will have received 60% in the next two to three weeks, any remaining distributions will likely take in many months or years.

So far, there have been two bulk transfers: the first was for open positions, which took place earlier in the month. The second took place late last week and involves about $500 million in cash from cash-only accounts. It's expected there will be a third bulk transfer announced this week or next to "true-up" all customers to 60%.

The McClellan "POMO" theory of returned customer funds is interesting, but I think he is overestimating the amount that is being returned this week. Also, many customers I know simply plan to withdraw a substantial amount of the cash recently made available.

@michaelD: the precedent set with MFG means there is no fail-safe way to currently protect money in a futures account. It's important to do due diligence on your broker since counterparty risk is now real.