The Moscow Exchange, or MOEX, stands as Russia’s largest exchange group. Recently, it has released its financial details for March of 2021. Within this month, the exchange witnessed a significant jump in volumes across all of its major markets, including the Derivatives, FX, Bonds, Equities, and Money Markets.

March Volumes Still Impressive

The official announcement detailed that the FX trade volumes, in particular, had managed to reach a total of 31.9 trillion RUB for March of 2021. Compared to February of 2021, this stands as a 33.1% increase, with the derivatives market seeing a similar spike in volume of 37% when compared to February of 2021.

As for the trade volumes overall across all markets, MOEX managed to record a total of 90.4 trillion RUB for March of 2021. This actually stands as less what was recorded year-over-year, as 98.8 trillion RUB was recorded in March of 2020. However, it should be noted that the spectacular trade volumes recorded in March of last year can primarily be attributed to COVID-19 causing spectacular levels of volatility in all sectors. In such cases, exchanges are the ones that win the most through it.

2020 Beating 2021’s numbers

The official announcement from MOEX gave some finer details about the volumes for the FX Market. In particular, it highlighted that 21.8 trillion RUB of it consisted of swaps and forwards. Another 10.1 trillion RUB was attributed to the spot trading space. The Average Daily Trading Volume (ADTV) for March of 2021 was recorded at 1,449.8 billion RUB, which translates to around $19.5 billion, give or take. This is less than last year’s numbers, however, as March of 2020’s ADTV stood at an impressive 1,727.1 billion RUB, or around $23.6 billion.

Prior to its March announcement, MOEX had reported its overall financial results for 2020. According to the report, MOEX saw a 30.9% jump when it comes to its Fee and Commission (F&C) incomes, the largest increase in the exchange’s history. The lower interest rate environment of that year saw an overall dip in its Net Interest Income (NII), but the exchange still reported an Adjusted Net Profit 13.8% higher than that of 2019, recording it at 25.2 billion RUB.

2020 Was Good For Russia’s Financial Markets

Yury Denisov stands as the Moscow Exchange’s Chief Executive Officer. During an announcement made in March of 2021, Denisov highlighted how profitable 2020 was for the Moscow exchange, despite the ongoing pandemic. In fact, he declared it beneficial for the Russian financial market as a whole. He highlighted that Russian businesses had managed to raise over 4 trillion RUB from both private and institutional investors, doing so through the issuance of bonds and equities within MOEX at large.