Forts already offers futures and options on more than a dozen Russian stocks, mainly banks and resources firms, including Rosneft, Gazprom and Lukoil.

The exchange’s single stock futures enjoyed an exceptional 2009, becoming the bourse’s most traded type of contract. Monthly volumes topped 30m in October.

Trading in equity options reached a monthly peak of 7.3m in July 2008, since when volumes have been more modest, hovering around the 1.5m mark for much of 2009.

Due to specific features of the Russian tax system, the options traded on RTS are options on futures, not options on stocks.

At present, many of the exchange’s options contracts are technically futures-style options. Unlike with traditional options, the buyer of a futures-style option does not prepay the premium on the contract. Buyers and sellers post margin in a futures contract, and the option premium is marked to market daily.

Karine Gabrielyan, RTS’s deputy head of business development, said the bourse was also considering seeking approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission for its new rouble-denominated RTS Standard Index Futures contract, which would allow it to be traded in the US.

Gabrielyan also suggested Forts wanted to offer more currency pairs, though she refused to be drawn on the details. The exchange’s euro/dollar, dollar/rouble and euro/rouble FX futures are among its most actively traded products.