On June 1, 2011 a cash-settled futures contract on the Russian Volatility Index was launched on FORTS, the derivatives market of 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.
For more information and the contract’s specifications, please visit the contract's page.