Russia’s largest stock market, the Moscow Exchange, plans to launch futures contracts for more major cryptocurrencies in May.
New products based on Solana’s recently announced index ($SOL), Ripple’s $XRP And Tron ($TRX), expanding the platform’s crypto derivatives offerings.
More than 60,000 customers have already traded these instruments since the exchange entered the market last spring with consent from the country’s central bank.
Moscow Exchange to add virtual currency futures to Russian market
The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) will begin trading in three more crypto futures this month. The derivatives are based on a new index of some of the largest cryptocurrencies.
Solana and Ripple contract $XRPand Tron will be offered only to qualified investors at this time, the stock market operator announced on Friday.
The tickers will be MOEXSOL, MOEXXRP, and MOEXTRX and will go live on May 14th. Futures are based on the index that was first published on the previous day.
The exchange noted that the new product is payment-based and does not involve the delivery of digital currencies. Payment will be made in Russian rubles.
Solana Index futures are expressed in dollars corresponding to the index value, with price increments and incremental values of $0.01, the announcement further elaborated.
Ripple index futures are also traded in US currency. The price increment is now smaller at $0.0001, but the step value is set to $0.01 again.
According to a press release cited by RBC Crypto and Bits.media, TRON index futures are structured similarly, with price increments of $0.0001 and cost per increment of $0.01.
The new futures contracts will have an expiry of one month and the last trading day will be the last Friday of each contract.
The average value of the corresponding MOEX Foreign Digital Currency Index from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm Moscow time on the last day of the contract will determine the strike price.
The exchange stressed that futures offer new opportunities for professional market participants, retail investors and institutional investors to diversify their portfolios.
Over 62,000 customers are already trading crypto futures on MOEX
News of the futures sale comes after the Moscow Exchange revealed earlier this week that it would begin calculating the index. $SOL, $XRP, $TRXBinance’s BNB, reported by Cryptopolitan.
MOEX uses these indices to issue virtual currency derivatives. Already hosts commodity trading based on proprietary indices for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum ($ETH).
It also trades futures that track BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds, iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA).
In February of this year, the exchange announced that it may launch perpetual futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum, in addition to the monthly index futures currently available for the two largest coins by market capitalization.
Russia’s main stock and bond trading venue was one of the first to enter the market after Moscow’s financial authorities allowed it to offer crypto derivatives last spring.
The launch of futures trading for Solana, Ripple and TRON indices is a natural development, commented Maria Patrikeeva, Head of Derivatives Markets at MOEX.
He emphasized that the exchange will provide Russian investors with access to the largest number of cryptocurrencies without using foreign exchanges. She also revealed:
“More than 62,000 derivatives market customers have already participated in crypto asset contracts on the Moscow Exchange and we are pleased to offer them further opportunities.”
The Russian Federation is currently preparing to introduce comprehensive rules for virtual currency transactions based on the regulatory concept announced by the Bank of Russia in December.
A new “digital currency” bill, which must be passed by July 1, 2026, aims to expand investor access to crypto assets, including to non-accredited investors, albeit under strict restrictions.
