The Moscow Exchange is preparing for a landmark step in the development of its derivatives market: trading in the first perpetual contracts on crypto indices will launch on the platform as early as September. This refers to perpetual futures on Bitcoin and Ethereum, which will be a logical continuation of the line of digital instruments launched this summer.
What exactly the platform is launching
According to my information, Maria Patrikeeva, Managing Director of the Derivatives Market, has confirmed plans to expand crypto products. Currently, qualified investors have access to quarterly and monthly futures on BTC, ETH, Solana, Ripple, and Tron. However, as early as next month, two perpetual contracts tied to the indices of the first and second cryptocurrencies by market capitalization will be added to them.
Perpetual futures are one-day contracts without a fixed expiration date. Each such instrument is automatically rolled over to the next trading day, which relieves the investor of the need to manually shift positions from one issue to another. This significantly simplifies risk management and reduces operational costs.
Ambitious expansion plans
The platform does not intend to stop at two crypto instruments. In the future, the number of underlying coins is planned to be increased to ten, and following Bitcoin and Ethereum, perpetual futures will also appear on other digital assets. Moreover, in the near future, the exchange intends to offer similar perpetual contracts on approximately 20 foreign stocks — among the most popular securities are Amazon, AMD, Tesla, and Netflix.
It is noteworthy that 2025 has already proven to be a record year for the platform's derivatives market: since the beginning of the year, 34 new instruments have appeared here, and about 30 more contracts are planned to be launched by the end of the year.
Concurrent modernization of trading infrastructure
The launch of new products is taking place against the backdrop of a large-scale restructuring of the trading schedule. From September 14, the main session will begin at 9:00 instead of 10:00 and will last ten hours. The changes will affect the stock, derivatives, currency markets, and the precious metals market. The additional hour of trading is a response to requests from institutional participants, for whom it is critically important to work during the main session, where the bulk of orders is concentrated. Clients from Siberia and the Far East will benefit particularly.
In parallel, the exchange is strengthening control over trading. The implemented system based on artificial intelligence already helps identify transactions with signs of manipulation and insider trading, automating the processing of hundreds of thousands of transactions. The more instruments there are and the longer the trading session, the higher the load on compliance services — and here automation becomes critically important.
My view: The launch of perpetual futures on crypto indices is not just an expansion of the product line, but a signal of the growing institutionalization of digital assets on regulated platforms. For Russian investors, this is an opportunity to gain access to crypto exposure through infrastructure supervised by the regulator, which significantly reduces the risks associated with illegal platforms. However, it is worth remembering that perpetual futures are an instrument with high volatility, and a clear capital management strategy is essential here.