Personal Trading activity while in IBD

Hi all,

This topic has been discussed in the past, albeit on an old thread from 2009 (what I could find) and only covered stocks on exchanges. I wanted to get the opinion of the current full time personnel in the Investment Banking and related fields, on whether similar rules (preclearing trades, 30 day hold times, no naked option shorts, etc) even when trading stock indices instead of individual stocks?

Specifically, my trading involves pretty much futures market, where there's no bias towards an individual stock since most of them are determined by global factors (import, export, weather, crop plantation, forex/inflation, etc).

Would trading in commodity futures and futures options expose me to same rules as individual stocks?

I highly doubt that any information one receives when working on a deal could be considered inside information, as an example, on how the next year's corn crop will do or how the coffee harvest in Brazil will be. Nevertheless, I still want to be in the clear in terms of not breaking any rules. Wondering if anyone working at banks (and if you wouldn't mind naming the banks, that'd be very helpful) deal or view this? Also, perhaps more critically, how your banks view these? Have you ever come across language which talks about trading anything outside stocks/equity markets? I've heard banks typically do allow trading indices but have rules pertaining to individual company's stocks/options.

I'm not at a bank currently in front office, so would really appreciate any insights.

Thanks!

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