RTS Stock Exchange: The Number Of FORTS Market Transactions To Be Regulated

Effective March 15 th , 2005, the number of transactions (orders placed into the system and deleted from the system) on FORTS, Futures and Options on RTS, will be regulated. This decision was made by the RTS Stock Exchange Derivatives Market Committee on on December 22 nd , 2004 due to the proliferation of electronic trading systems able to analyze market dynamics and execute transactions and trades without traders' participation.

If a certain ratio of the number of transactions to the number of trades executed is violated, each "extra" transaction will be liable to an exchange fee of 0.1 rubles.

The system will be tested from January 11 to March 1 st , 2005 and its effectiveness evaluated. Fess will be charged at of March 15 th , 2005.

Futures:	Ratio of the number of transactions to the number of trades executed*
For market-makers	10:1
For other trading participants	5:1
Options:
For market-makers	25:1
For other trading participants	10:1

* the fee is collected if there was more than 1,000 transactions during the trading session

"The practice of regulation of automated trading systems by limiting the number of 'empty' transactions is a world-wide practice", said Roman Gorunov, head of the Derivatives market of the RTS Stock Exchange. "This practice allows us to diminish operating risks associated with the trading system and increase its effectiveness".