The Moscow Exchange derivatives market on weekends: annual turnover exceeded 1.7 trillion rubles — a new stage in the evolution of trading
In the first year of the Moscow Exchange derivatives market operating on weekends, total trading turnover exceeded 1.7 trillion rubles. More than 215,000 clients took advantage of the opportunity to trade futures and options on Saturdays and Sundays.
Trading on non-working days launched on August 16, 2025, and after 12 months the exchange summarized the initial results. On average, the share of trades occurring on weekends accounted for 3.8% of the main trading session volume. At first glance, the figure seems modest, but it reflects sustained demand for continuous access to instruments.
Record activity and demand structure
The peak occurred on February 28, 2026, when participants executed trades worth 82.6 billion rubles — an absolute record in the history of the additional session. Notably, since July 18, 2026, currency futures have also become available on weekends. In less than a month, turnover on these contracts during non-working days reached 34 billion rubles.
Clients most often chose Brent crude oil futures, gold, and the MOEX Index. The list of popular instruments also included 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.
The main goal of expanding trading hours is to give participants the ability to respond to events at any moment. This position was voiced by Maria Patrikeeva, Managing Director of the Derivatives Market. According to her, 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.
Infrastructure changes and prospects
Weekend trades take place from 09:50 to 19:00: the first ten minutes are allocated to the opening auction, followed by the trading period. Investors can work with all futures and calendar spreads, while options are available only in the negotiated mode, with liquidity supported by market makers.
The exchange is consistently expanding trading hours for investors. Launching trades on Saturdays and Sundays became one of the steps in this direction, and the exchange subsequently continued changing schedules across several markets. From September 14, the main session will start an hour earlier — at 9:00, and its duration will increase to 10 hours. The changes will affect the equities, derivatives, currency markets, and the precious metals market.
Demand for new opportunities is also confirmed by retail activity. In July, individual investors invested 142.9 billion rubles in securities, and their share in stock trades reached 63.3%.
My view: The growth in weekend turnover is not just statistics, but a signal of a fundamental shift in retail investor behavior. They no longer want to be hostages of the calendar and seek to hedge risks in real time. Extending the session to 10 hours on weekdays is a logical continuation of this strategy, which will strengthen the exchange's competitiveness in the fight for liquidity, especially against the backdrop of global markets operating almost around the clock.