Trading in ruble gold futures began on the Moscow Exchange

Trading in ruble gold futures has begun on the Moscow Exchange. A similar currency contract is one of the five most popular in the derivatives market. Experts believe that the new contract will be in demand, because it has a number of advantages, in particular, it does not depend on dollar exchange rate fluctuations, and also has a lower entry threshold. Among the limitations of the instrument, market participants note the smaller built-in leverage.

The first trading in ruble settled futures for gold, which started on June 28 on the Moscow Exchange, was quite successful. The volume amounted to almost 13 million rubles. and exceeded, in particular, trading in palladium futures. The exchange already hosts trading in currency futures for gold, which are among the five most popular derivatives market instruments.

The average daily volume of transactions with them this year exceeded more than 25 billion rubles.

Market participants expect that the new term contract will be in demand. The new ruble futures will come in handy as an alternative to buying gold on the spot market, says Otkritie Investments personal broker Alexey Petrovsky. Now it is not necessary to buy currency futures for gold, and the volatility of the dollar will no longer have such a strong effect on investors’ profits, Andrey Maslov, an analyst at FG Finam, points out.

The instrument will serve as a means of diversification, hedging and arbitrage, Kirill Gorbunov, an analyst at Ingosstrakh Investments, believes. The product, according to him, complements the line of “gold” instruments, offering investors ample opportunities for investing in assets tied to the value of the precious metal. Futures, in particular, allows you to hedge the risk of ruble depreciation, the analyst added.

Ruble futures for gold may well bypass the popularity of futures contracts for platinum and enter the top five most traded commodity contracts, says Valery Yemelyanov, an expert on the stock market at BCS World Investments. The growth in volumes, according to him, will be provided mainly by the transition of investors from the segment of foreign exchange contracts to gold. “In monetary terms, the volume of operations there is three orders of magnitude higher. Therefore, we can see an increase in trading activity hundreds, if not a thousand times, relative to the first day, ”the expert estimates.

At the same time, the ruble futures have a higher risk rate, that is, less built-in leverage, Mr. Yemelyanov notes. Thus, the collateral for trading in currency futures for gold is 11 thousand rubles. per contract, which is about 7% of the contract value (15x leverage). In the ruble futures, the margin is 670 rubles, which is about 12% of the contract value (8x leverage).

About two-thirds of the volume in trading in currency futures for gold is provided by legal entities.

According to Mr. Yemelyanov, they will eventually switch to trading in a futures contract in rubles after it is terminated. For large investors, the instrument will be of interest in terms of hedging, not speculation or arbitrage, Mr. Gorbunov believes. He does not rule out increased demand from gold mining companies.

Experts believe that the launch of a new ruble futures can also be considered a positive signal for the spot market of precious metals. However, the demand for gold in this segment, says Valery Yemelyanov, will be more determined by the dynamics of the quotation of the metal itself and the ruble.

Ksenia Kulikova