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U.S. exchange executives warned Wednesday that regulators' moves to put limits on commodities trading is already shifting business overseas.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is weighing position limits for some commodity traders, seeking to rein in "excessive speculation" that critics contend contributed to historic rises in the price of crude oil and other asset classes.

The prospect of caps on futures trading for banks and commodity index funds has seen some market players shift business to European commodity markets, where such limits aren't being considered. Others are moving to commodity-linked cash equities.

"It's a shame to take business from U.S. companies and give it to foreign entities, and that's exactly what's going on," said Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group Inc. (CME).

"It's so perverse what's going on right now in our government," added Duffy, speaking at a Futures Industry Association event in Chicago.

Johnathan Short, general counsel for IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), said that Washington's pursuit of such position limits "has almost spun out of control."

Short said that studies haven't conclusively tied 2008's spike in commodity prices to excessive speculation in financial markets. "Many studies said exactly the opposite," he said.

The futures industry successfully fought off position limits last year after crude oil prices shot above $140 a barrel.

This year, however, regulators are poised to impose them on speculative investors in U.S. markets, part of a broad raft of reforms for financial markets.

Walter Lukken, the former acting chairman of the CFTC and now a senior vice president of NYSE Euronext (NYX), said alternative ways to contain price volatility should be explored.

Position limits are "not a one-size-fits-all solution to problems in the market," Lukken said.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

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