The largest stock market in Russia, the Moscow Exchange, is going to launch futures contracts for more major cryptocurrencies in May.
The new products, based on recently announced indices for Solana ($SOL), Ripple’s $XRP and Tron ($TRX), will expand the platform’s crypto derivative offerings.
Well over 60,000 clients of the exchange have already traded such instruments since it entered the market last spring with the nod of the country’s central bank.
Moscow Exchange to add more crypto futures to the Russian market
The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) will start trading another three cryptocurrency futures this month. The derivatives will be based on new indices for some of the largest cryptocurrencies.
The contracts for Solana, Ripple’s $XRP, and Tron will be offered exclusively to qualified investors at this point, the stock market’s operator unveiled Friday.
They will have the tickers MOEXSOL, MOEXXRP, and MOEXTRX and will be made available on May 14. The futures will be based on indices published for the first time a day earlier.
The new instruments are settlement-based and do not involve the delivery of digital currency, the exchange also noted. Settlements will be made in Russian rubles.
The Solana index futures are quoted in dollars, corresponding to the index value, with a price increment and increment value of $0.01, the announcement further detailed.
The Ripple index futures are also quoted in U.S. currency. They will have a smaller price increment of $0.0001 but the step value will be again set at $0.01.
The Tron index futures are structured similarly, with a price increment of $0.0001 and cost per increment at $0.01, according to the press release, quoted by RBC Crypto and Bits.media.
The maturity of the new futures contracts will be one month, and the last trading day will fall on the last Friday of each contract.
The average value of the corresponding MOEX Foreign Digital Currency Index between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm Moscow time on the contract’s last day will determine the strike price.
The futures will provide professional market players, private and institutional investors with new opportunities to diversify their portfolios, the exchange emphasized.
Over 62,000 clients have already traded crypto futures on MOEX
News of the futures offering comes after earlier this week, the Moscow Exchange revealed it will start calculating indices for $SOL, $XRP, $TRX, and Binance’s BNB, as reported by Cryptopolitan.
MOEX uses such indices to issue cryptocurrency derivatives. It’s already hosting the trading of instruments based on its own indices for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH).
It’s also trading futures tracking BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA).
In February of this year, the exchange said it may launch perpetual futures on Bitcoin and Ethereum in addition to the currently available monthly index futures for the two coins with the biggest market cap.
Russia’s main trading venue for equities and bonds was among the first to enter this market after the monetary authority in Moscow permitted the offering of crypto derivatives last spring.
The launch of futures on the Solana, Ripple, and Tron indices is a logical development, commented Maria Patrikeeva, head of derivatives market at MOEX.
She emphasized the exchange provides Russian investors with access to the largest cryptocurrencies without the need to use foreign exchanges. She also revealed:
“More than 62,000 derivatives market clients have already participated in crypto asset contracts on Moscow Exchange, and we are pleased to offer them additional opportunities.”
The Russian Federation is now preparing to adopt comprehensive rules for cryptocurrency transactions based on a regulatory concept released by the Bank of Russia in December.
The new “digital currency” bill, which must be passed by July 1, 2026, aims to expand investor access to crypto assets to include non-qualified investors, although under strict limitations.
