MOEX Announces Introduction of Opening Auction on FX Market

Moscow Exchange (MOEX) announced on Wednesday the introduction of an opening auction on FX Market for all spot instruments from 6:50 am to 7:00 am Moscow time.

MOEX’s FX Market is open for 17 hours a day, from 6:50 am to 11:50 pm Moscow time. Since the launch of morning trading, FX spot transactions have averaged around 10% of total FX trading volumes. The auction mechanism reduces the risk of significant fluctuations in the morning hours and increases the efficiency of market pricing. In the first days of trading with the auction mechanism, more than 20 banks and brokerage companies generated primary liquidity.

Previously, MOEX implemented an opening auction on the Equity Market, which supports more representative opening prices and reduces the risk of artificially inflating or undervaluing market prices.

From 6 December, the range of benchmark matching services calculated by MOEX has also been expanded, with launch of a new tool that calculates trades with a premium or discount to the weighted average USD/RUB FX rate as of 11:30 am Moscow time. This allows market participants to execute trades at a price as close as possible to the official USD exchange rate set by the Bank of Russia. The tool is designed for banks and brokers, as well as their corporate clients.

Shortly before, Fazzaco reported that MOEX has posted its trading volumes for the month of November​, showing that the total trading volumes across MOEX's markets grew by 11.7 percent to RUB 91.0 trln in November compared to the same period of 2020.