During the trading session of March 18th, 2008 a record trading volume of futures on gold was registered on FORTS, derivatives section of RTS. By the end of the trading day the trading volume amounted to 45 397 contracts or 1,095 bln. rubles. There was also set a record in the number of trades – 1278.
The previous record in the trading volume of futures on gold was established on December 18th, 2006 - 38 653 contracts or 1,05 bln. rubles. By the trading session closure 550 trades were executed.
Derivatives market of RTS – FORTS is a leading trading ground 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 (46 futures and 19 options) on shares of Russian companies, bonds, short 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.