OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2009. October 13, 2009 FORTS saw a new record number of trades executed in the futures contract on the RTS Index.

By the end of the trading session the market participants made 429,623 trades in futures and options on the most liquid instrument of the Russian equity market.

The previous record was set on October 9, 2009, when 414,121 trades were transacted.

The trading volume and the number of trades in RTS Index futures also saw a new record – USD2.4 billion (or RUB72.1 billion) and 250,231 trades accordingly.

The previous record was also set on October 9, 2009 with the trading volume in RTS Index futures totaling USD2.2 billion (RUB66.1 billion) and the number of trades reaching 240,648.

The RTS Index futures started trading in August 2005. In two years it became the most liquid instrument of the Russian equity market. According to the rating issued by the Futures Industry Association based on the results of the first half of 2009 the RTS Index futures entered top ten most liquid instruments on indices worldwide.

FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is the 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 50 contracts (33 futures and 17 options) on shares of Russian companies, bonds, short term interest rates, currency, RTS Index, oil, silver, diesel oil, sugar and gold.