Moscow Exchange derivatives market on weekends: annual turnover exceeded 1.7 trillion rubles — results of the experiment
A year of weekend trading on the Moscow Exchange derivatives market has delivered impressive results: the combined turnover of futures and options trading on Saturdays and Sundays exceeded 1.7 trillion rubles. During this period, more than 215,000 unique clients took advantage of the opportunity to execute deals on non-working days.
Weekend trading launched on August 16, 2025, and after 12 months, the exchange has summarized the initial results. On average, the share of deals executed on Saturdays and Sundays accounted for 3.8% of the main trading session volume. This is a modest but significant figure that demonstrates sustained interest in the new format.
Records and participant preferences
The peak of activity occurred on February 28, 2026, when participants executed deals worth 82.6 billion rubles — an absolute record for the entire period of the additional session. Notably, since July 18, 2026, currency futures have also become available on weekends: in less than a month, their turnover reached 34 billion rubles.
The most in-demand instruments on non-working days were futures on Brent crude oil, gold, and the MOEX Index. The popularity rankings 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 logic of expansion and new horizons
The main goal of launching weekend trading is to give participants the ability to respond quickly to events occurring at times when the main session is closed while foreign exchanges continue to operate. Derivatives market instruments allow for hedging risks and participating 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 deals take place from 09:50 to 19:00: the first ten minutes are allocated to the opening auction, followed by the trading period. Investors have access to all futures and calendar spreads, while options are traded only in the negotiated mode, where liquidity is supported by market makers.
Moscow Exchange expands access to trading
The exchange is consistently increasing trading hours for investors. Launching deals on Saturdays and Sundays was one of the steps in this direction, and the exchange subsequently continued to change schedules across several markets. 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 equity, derivatives, and currency markets, as well as the precious metals market.
Demand for new opportunities is also confirmed by retail activity. In July, private investors invested 142.9 billion rubles in securities, and their share of stock deals reached 63.3%, indicating growing interest in the exchange's instruments.
My view: a turnover of 1.7 trillion rubles in a year is just the tip of the iceberg. The main achievement is the formation of a habit among retail investors to trade on weekends, which in the long term could lead to a flow of liquidity from foreign exchanges and the strengthening of the Moscow Exchange's position as a global hub for working with Russian and international assets. Expanding trading hours is not just a convenience, but a strategic step toward enhancing the competitiveness of the entire market.