Russian Ruble/U.S. Dollar futures

Russia is the 11th largest economy in the world with a nominal gross domestic product of $1.6 trillion in 2019.  The Russian economy has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown of the economy.  Because Russia’s economy is heavily dependent on its status as a producer and exporter of oil, natural gas, steel, and aluminum, Russia is susceptible to movements in global commodity prices, which have fallen almost 10% during the second quarter of this year.  Economists expect Russian GDP to fall 5.5% in 2020.  The Central Bank of the Russian Federation recently cut its key policy interest rate in June by 100 basis points to 4.5%.  The central bank expects inflation to rise between 3.8% and 4.8% by year end.  Although the number of registered unemployed has been rising, analysts expect the Russian unemployment rate to remain below 5.0% in 2020.

• RUB Futures YTD ADV of 5,812 ($207M notional); up 43% vs 2019
• RUB Futures Q2-2020 ADV of 5,093 up 23% vs Q2-2019
• RUB Futures notional OI in June of $1.02B up 22% vs May 2020
• Record monthly ADV achieved in March 2020 with volume reaching 10,386 contracts

• Tight bid-ask spreads across all trading hours by dedicated market makers providing liquidity across all time zones.
• CME’s RUB/USD futures contract offers a useful tool for risk managers to hedge their RUB currency risks.
• CME offers a venue to access Russian assets along with the benefit of facing a regulated, central counterparty with reduced credit risk.

• 45% savings with Norwegian Krone (NOK/USD)
• 30% savings with Australian Dollar (AUD/USD)
• 25% savings with Brent and WTI Crude
• 20% savings with Brazilian Real (BRL/USD)

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