OREANDA-NEWS. June 03, 2011. A cash-settled futures contract on the Russian Volatility Index was launched on FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, reported the press-centre of Concorde RTS.

On its first day of trading market participants carried out transactions in the new instrument making 357 trades to the value of RUB17 million (USD607 thousand), represented by 1,155 contracts.

Clients of 21 brokers traded the new futures contract on its launch day. The first trades were executed by ALOR and Brokercreditservice Ltd.

"From our perspective this is a very successful start. It is a totally new instrument not only for the local market but for many of the international markets too where it only starts to gain popularity. We are quite pleased with the trading volume figures for the first trading day of the Russian Volatility Index futures as they indicate that the Russian market is maturing, and the market participants already have a good understanding of how they can use innovative unusual financial instruments. We believe that the launch of this product will take our market to a higher development level", says Roman Goryunov, CEO of RTS Stock Exchange.

A volatility index is more volatile than most underlying assets, and traders can expect the Russian Volatility Index futures to be among the most volatile futures contracts as well. It is a useful tool for all sorts of market participants, be it an active trader or an asset manager interested in balancing their portfolios and hedging the risks.

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 2010. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 54 contracts (40 futures and 14 options) on RTS Index, RTS Standard Index, shares of Russian companies, short term interest rates, currency, oil, gasoil, power, gold, silver, and sugar.

The Russian Volatility Index (RTSVX) is the first local stock market benchmark that reflects market participants’ speculations regarding the future movements of the RTS Index, and hence, the movement of the Russian stock market as a whole.