The Russian stock market 

The Unified Moscow Exchange Index Family is the largest stock market among CIS countries and those of Eastern and Central Europe. The Moscow Exchange was established in 2011 via the merger of CJSC SE MICEX and OJSC RTS and is currently ranked among the world’s Top-20 global platforms in terms of securities trade-turnover and total capitalization of traded shares.

It ranks 9th among the Top-10 exchanges in the world in terms of derivatives-trading volume. On the stock market of the Moscow Exchange, securities are traded in three sectors: Primary Market, Standard Market and the Classica Market. 

FORTS – the futures and options market of the Moscow Exchange and the leading trading platform for derivatives in Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe. At present, the derivatives circulating on the FORTS market have the following underlying assets: RTS Index, MICEX Index, Russian Volatility Index, sectoral indices, stocks, federal loan bonds, foreign currency, the MosPrime three-month lending rate and commodities. 

Currency market – one of the most dynamically growing segments of the Russian financial market. The electronic trading system of the Moscow Exchange supports operations involving a wide spectrum of currency-market instruments: in USD, EUR, CNY (Chinese yuan), UAH (Ukrainian hryvnia), KZT (Kazakh tenge) and BYR (Belarusian rubles), or using a dual-currency basket and currency swaps. 

Over-the-counter market 

On the OTC market, transactions are concluded directly between the counterparties. OTC trading allows for the diversification of risks and formation of a more balanced securities portfolio thanks to the inclusion of undervalued Russian issuers with high growth potential but thus-far low liquidity. 

Deferred-settlement market (Т+2) 

On foreign trading platforms, deferred transaction settlements represent the global standard in trading. At the Moscow Exchange, the implementation of a trading system featuring private support and deferred transaction execution (Т+2) increases the accessibility of Russian assets to foreign investors and will promote the operational efficiencies of Russian market participants through reduced securitization, the generation of additional opportunities for liquidity management, and optimization of the internal business processes of market participants.