Moscow Exchange plans to begin trading perpetual futures contracts on five major cryptocurrency indices on September 22, 2026. The new products will cover Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Tron, expanding the exchange’s existing lineup of regulated crypto derivatives for professional participants in Russia.

The contracts will trade under the codes BTCUSDF, ETHUSDF, SOLUSDF, XRPUSDF and TRXUSDF. They are structured as cash-settled instruments with no physical delivery of the underlying digital assets. Prices will be quoted in U.S. dollars based on corresponding Moscow Exchange index values, while all settlements will occur in Russian rubles.

Contract Design and Access Rules

Unlike traditional futures with fixed expiration dates, the new instruments are one-day contracts featuring automatic overnight rollover. Funding calculations follow exchange specifications that set parameters K1 at 0 percent and K2 at 0.35 percent. This design allows positions to be maintained indefinitely subject to margin requirements, without the need for investors to hold or transfer actual cryptocurrencies.

Trading access is limited exclusively to qualified investors under Russian securities rules. Both individuals and legal entities must meet the designation, which brokers verify before granting participation. The restriction aligns with the exchange’s approach to its earlier crypto-linked products and keeps the offering within established regulatory boundaries.

Moscow Exchange already operates 31 perpetual futures across currency pairs, its own indices, government bonds, precious metals and selected securities. The incoming crypto contracts will sit alongside monthly futures that already reference the same five cryptocurrency indices. Bitcoin and Ethereum index futures started in November 2025, with Solana, XRP and Tron contracts added in May 2026.

Existing Demand and Trading Activity

Since the first digital-asset futures appeared last summer, more than 72,000 qualified investors have traded crypto-linked contracts on the exchange. Cumulative transaction volume has surpassed 600 billion rubles, equivalent to approximately 6.5 billion U.S. dollars. An earlier August snapshot recorded about 71,000 participants, average daily turnover near 2.5 billion rubles and a single-day record of 10.2 billion rubles.

The exchange first entered the segment with a futures contract based on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF in June 2025, followed by an Ether ETF-linked product. It later shifted to futures that reference its own cryptocurrency indices. Index calculations draw prices from major global platforms and update every 15 seconds during trading hours.

Regulatory Context

The products operate under Bank of Russia rules issued in 2025 that permit financial institutions to offer qualified investors derivatives linked to cryptocurrency prices, provided there is no physical delivery of the assets. Separate legislation effective September 1, 2026, opened regulated channels for direct cryptocurrency transactions through approved intermediaries, with differing limits for qualified and non-qualified investors. The new perpetual futures remain a distinct derivatives offering and continue to exclude non-qualified participants.

Settlement in rubles introduces a currency-conversion layer for every trade, while the dollar quotation allows participants to track global crypto price movements. The structure keeps all activity inside the exchange’s existing clearing and risk-management systems.

Trading in the five perpetual contracts is scheduled to open on September 22, 2026, under the published contract specifications. Market participants will be able to monitor initial volumes, open interest and funding rates as the first data points emerge after the launch.