MOEX’s OTC Derivatives Business Shines as New Regulations Loom
- Open interest on MOEX’s standardised OTC derivatives market was RUB 547 billion at the end of 30 June 2020

Investors’ interest in OTC derivatives trading at Moscow Exchange (MOEX) continued its upward route in 2020 buoyed by a steady rise in Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term, coupled with a multi-year effort to bring new business to the platform.
According to a recent report, open interest on MOEX’s standardised OTC derivatives market was RUB 547 billion at the end of 30 June 2020. This figure was up 25 percent year-over-year from RUB 436 billion the previous year.
Russia’s largest institutional trading venue attributed the growth to its new products and upcoming regulatory changes, which helped increase the share of interest swaps in total market turnover to 40 percent. Moscow Exchange’s derivatives offering lines up swaps, FX swaps, cross-currency swaps, FX forwards and options with maturities from three days to five years.
Further, the status of MOEX’s OTC derivatives market makes it the only venue that meets Bank of Russia’s requirements which impose mandatory clearing of interest derivatives via a central counterparty (CCP).
Moex has well over 5 million retail investors
“Market participants do not need to establish counterparty risk exposure limits or execute master agreements, thereby reducing their capital costs and allowing them to benefit from common clearing procedures and unified collateral across other MOEX markets,” the exchange operator said in a statement.
MOEX, in particular, continues to develop its infrastructure as part of a state-backed drive to make Russia’s largest institutional trading venue one of the world’s leading financial hubs. Most recently, the exchange acquired a minority stake in BierbaumPro, which owns proprietary OTC FX platform NTPro.
More than 1 million retail investors flocked to Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in the first four months of 2020, opening twice as many accounts as the monthly average in the previous year. In total, the number of retail investor accounts hit a five million milestone, up 25 percent from the year-ago levels. The exchange added an average of 258,000 individual accounts each month during the January-April period compared with a monthly average increase of 159,000 in the same interval of 2019.
Investors’ interest in OTC derivatives trading at Moscow Exchange (MOEX) continued its upward route in 2020 buoyed by a steady rise in Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders can be successful in both low and high volatile environments, but the strategies employed are often different depending upon volatility. Why Too Much Volatility is a ProblemIn the FX space, lower volatile currency pairs offer less surprises, and are suited to position traders.High volatile pairs are attractive for many day traders, due to quick and strong movements, offering the potential for higher profits, although the risk associated with such volatile pairs are many. Overall, a look at previous volatility tells us how likely price will fluctuate in the future, although it has nothing to do with direction.All a trader can gather from this is the understanding that the probability of a volatile pair to increase or decrease an X amount in a Y period of time, is more than the probability of a non-volatile pair. Another important factor is, volatility can and does change over time, and there can be periods when even highly volatile instruments show signs of flatness, with price not really making headway in either direction. Too little volatility is just as problematic for markets as too much, we uncertainty in excess can create panic and problems of liquidity. This was evident during Black Swan events or other crisis that have historically roiled currency and equity markets. Read this Term, coupled with a multi-year effort to bring new business to the platform.
According to a recent report, open interest on MOEX’s standardised OTC derivatives market was RUB 547 billion at the end of 30 June 2020. This figure was up 25 percent year-over-year from RUB 436 billion the previous year.
Russia’s largest institutional trading venue attributed the growth to its new products and upcoming regulatory changes, which helped increase the share of interest swaps in total market turnover to 40 percent. Moscow Exchange’s derivatives offering lines up swaps, FX swaps, cross-currency swaps, FX forwards and options with maturities from three days to five years.
Further, the status of MOEX’s OTC derivatives market makes it the only venue that meets Bank of Russia’s requirements which impose mandatory clearing of interest derivatives via a central counterparty (CCP).
Moex has well over 5 million retail investors
“Market participants do not need to establish counterparty risk exposure limits or execute master agreements, thereby reducing their capital costs and allowing them to benefit from common clearing procedures and unified collateral across other MOEX markets,” the exchange operator said in a statement.
MOEX, in particular, continues to develop its infrastructure as part of a state-backed drive to make Russia’s largest institutional trading venue one of the world’s leading financial hubs. Most recently, the exchange acquired a minority stake in BierbaumPro, which owns proprietary OTC FX platform NTPro.
More than 1 million retail investors flocked to Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in the first four months of 2020, opening twice as many accounts as the monthly average in the previous year. In total, the number of retail investor accounts hit a five million milestone, up 25 percent from the year-ago levels. The exchange added an average of 258,000 individual accounts each month during the January-April period compared with a monthly average increase of 159,000 in the same interval of 2019.