OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2010. In December 2009 the USD/RUB futures contract trading on FORTS, the derivatives section of RTS, was ranked first by Futures and Options World (FOW) in terms of trading volume measured in contracts among all the FX derivatives worldwide.

In December 2009, this instrument traded 5,381,586 contracts which is a 123% increase on the trading figures for December 2008.

According to FOW, option contracts on the USD/RUB futures trading on RTS also entered the Top-20 most liquid FX contracts globally. Last December this option traded more than 80 thousand contracts.

Trading in the USD/RUB futures on FORTS started in December 2002. The option contract on this futures was launched in April 2005. These instruments enable local investors to hedge their FX risks related to negative movements of the USD/RUB exchange rate on currency markets.

Full FOW rating (gif, 81Kb)

FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is the leading trading venue for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 46 contracts (33 futures and 13 options) on RTS Index, shares of Russian companies, bonds, short term interest rates, currency, oil, silver, diesel oil, sugar and gold.