Comprehensive legislation to reform the country's $300-trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market could land on President Obama's desk by as early as this summer, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler.

"These things take time, take steps. First, we have to get something to the President's desk. And yes, probably somewhere on Intrade, it's trading on whether we're going to get it to the President's desk. Somewhere, someone's making a market out there, an unregulated market," he quipped at Markit Group Ltd.'s OTC and derivatives market conference in New York when asked how long the country should expect to wait before seeing changes put in place. "I'm an optimist, and I think there's a high chance we'll get it to the President's desk, whether it's this summer or right before the election in November."

Regulatory overhaul of the country's OTC markets, a government initiative first announced in...