Clearinghouse

This is the third party that is responsible for settling accounts, clearing trades, and regulating trading data for a futures exchange.  Clearinghouses act as middlemen between all parties.  For example, at the end of the day, all future accounts must be adjusted for the losses or gains that they might have incurred during the day’s trading.  Clearinghouses make sure that individual parties have enough money in the accounts to transfer to the other party.  This means that the clearinghouses are responsible for making sure everyone participating in futures trading honor their contracts.