Moscow Exchange to start trading options on natural gas and Yandex shares

On 13 January 2021, Moscow Exchange will begin trading futures-style options on natural gas and on Yandex N.V. ordinary shares.

The natural gas option will provide Russian market participants and their clients with additional opportunities to trade global commodity instruments. The Yandex N.V. option will help investors in the management of equity portfolios.

The gas option mirrors the Henry Hub Natural Gas American-Style Option traded on NYMEX, part of CME Group. The next upcoming option series will expire in January 2021.

The Yandex N.V. options will expire on the third Thursdays of March, June, September and December.

Moscow Exchange’s natural gas futures contract was launched on 3 February 2020. In 2020, MOEX’s average daily trading volume in the contract was RUB 306 mln; the average daily trading volume in commodities was RUB 110 bln. In 2020 the average daily trading volume in futures and options on equities and indices grew more than 1.5 times YoY to RUB 148,6 bln.

Currently, the MOEX Derivatives Market offers 77 futures contracts and 37 options on futures on equity indices, Russian and foreign shares, currency pairs, precious metals and industrial metals, oil, gas and other commodities, as well as interest rates.