On November 24th, 2008 the number of trades on FORTS hit a new record high. By the end of the main trading session the FORTS members had made as many as 235 180 trades in futures and options. The previous record was set on November 21st, 2008 when the FORTS members entered into 229 123 trades.
November 24th, 2008 also saw a record number of trades in futures contracts – 233 250 trades. The previous record was reported on November 21st, 2008 with the FORTS members making 227 591 trades.
There was also a new record number of trades in the RTS Index futures contract on November 24th, 2008. By the closure of the main trading session 150 662 trades in the RTS Index futures were made (147 166 trades in the RTSI futures as of November 14th, 2008).
FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is a leading trading venue for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 65 contracts (47 futures and 18 options) on shares of Russian companies, bonds, short term interest rates, currency, RTS Index, oil, silver, gas, oil, sugar and gold.
Trading volume on FORTS in 2007 grew threefold and reached 297.41 bln dollars or 144.9 million contracts. Compared with 2006 the number of trades increased more than twofold and reached 11.7mln. Total open interest at the end of the year equalled 14.7 bln rubles in cash or 3.2 million contracts. FORTS also saw a record day’s trading in 2007 when the value of all contracts traded reached 5.2 bln dollars on December 13th, 2007.