OREANDA-NEWS. May 6, 2010. On May 5, 2010 trading volume in derivatives contracts on FORTS reached RUB174.842 billion or USD5.967 billion by the end of the main trading session.

The total number of trades executed on FORTS also hit a new record high of 683,574 trades.

The trading volume in futures contracts alone totaled a record value of RUB166.742billion or USD5.692 billion.

In addition market participants executed a record number of trades (488,511) in the RTS Index futures for a record value of RUB134.738 billion or USD4.598 billion and 9,376 trades in the RTS Index options.

The top liquid FX contract of FORTS, the USD/RUB futures, established a new open interest record – 1,097,260 contracts or RUB33.268 billion.

The growing activity on the Russian market was mainly driven by the significant movement on the FX market and international financial markets. The global practice proves that futures and options are the best tools for hedging an investment portfolio. The rich product choice offered by FORTS allows local investors to not only minimize their losses incurred as a result of sharp movements in global markets but also to build viable strategies in unstable financial markets.

FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is the leading trading venue for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. According to the Futures Industry Association the derivatives market of RTS is among the TOP-10 global derivatives exchanges based on the results of 2009. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 47 contracts (34 futures and 13 options) on RTS Index, RTS Standard Index, shares of Russian companies, bonds, short term interest rates, currency, oil, gasoil, gold, silver, and sugar.