Moscow Exchange derivatives market on weekends: one year of operation and 1.7 trillion rubles in turnover
A year has passed since the launch of trading on the Moscow Exchange derivatives market on weekends, and the initial results are impressive. The total turnover during this period exceeded 1.7 trillion rubles, and more than 215 thousand clients took advantage of the opportunity to conclude deals with futures and options on Saturdays and Sundays. This is not just an experiment, but a full-fledged stage in the evolution of exchange infrastructure.
The additional session started on August 16, 2025. Over 12 months, the share of transactions falling on weekends averaged 3.8% of the main trading session volume. The figure is modest, but extremely telling: it demonstrates a steady interest from investors in continuous market access, rather than a one-time spike in activity.
Records and preferences
The absolute record was set on February 28, 2026, when participants executed deals worth 82.6 billion rubles — the highest result in the entire history of the additional session. Since July 18, 2026, currency futures were added to trading, and in less than a month their turnover reached 34 billion rubles, confirming high demand for hedging currency risks.
The most popular instruments among clients are futures on Brent crude oil, gold, and the MOEX Index. Also in the top were perpetual futures on the MOEX Index, natural gas contracts, the RTS Index, QQQ ETF Trust units, as well as mini-contracts on the MOEX Index and Brent oil. This is a clear signal: investors are looking for instruments tied to the global environment, not just Russian assets.
The main goal of expanding trading hours is to give participants the ability to react to events at any moment. Derivatives market instruments allow participation in price movements not only of Russian assets, but also of popular global instruments, whose activity peaks occur at different times of the day.
Weekend trading runs from 09:50 to 19:00: the first ten minutes are allocated for the opening auction, followed by the trading period. Investors have access to all futures and calendar spreads, while options are only available in the negotiated mode, where liquidity is supported by market makers.
Time is a new resource
The Moscow Exchange is consistently expanding access to trading. Launching deals on Saturdays and Sundays is just one of the steps. Starting September 14, the main session will begin an hour earlier — at 9:00, and its duration will increase to 10 hours. The changes will affect the stock, derivatives, currency markets, and the precious metals market.
Retail investor activity confirms the trend: in July, individuals invested 142.9 billion rubles in securities, and their share in stock transactions reached 63.3%. This indicates growing interest in the exchange's instruments and that investors are increasingly using new opportunities for capital management.
My view: the growth in weekend turnover is not just statistics, but a marker of market maturity. Investors have stopped perceiving the exchange as a mechanism with a rigid schedule, and now competition for liquidity is not only between instruments, but also for the client's time. In the long term, this will strengthen the Moscow Exchange's position as a regional hub capable of operating 24/7, especially in conditions of global uncertainty.