Moscow Exchange to Launch Perpetual Crypto Futures on September 22

Moscow Exchange will launch perpetual futures tied to five major cryptocurrencies on Sept. 22, giving qualified investors continuous price exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Tron without requiring them to own the underlying assets.

The new contracts are BTCUSDF, ETHUSDF, SOLUSDF, XRPUSDF, and TRXUSDF. Each tracks a corresponding MOEX crypto index and automatically rolls over each day, allowing investors to maintain their positions without manually switching to a new contract at expiration.

Unlike spot crypto trading, the futures do not deliver any cryptocurrency. They are quoted against US dollar-denominated indexes, while profits and losses are settled in Russian rubles.

Exposure without ownership

The structure means investors can gain exposure to crypto price movements without holding Bitcoin, Ether or other tokens themselves.

Access is limited to qualified investors, according to MOEX. The products therefore expand the exchange's existing derivatives market rather than opening spot crypto trading to retail investors.

Investors must also post collateral to trade the contracts. MOEX set first-tier minimum margin rates at 22% for Bitcoin, 35% for Ether, 38% for Solana, 43% for XRP, and 30% for Tron. The requirements mean traders must commit a portion of a position's value as collateral, with XRP carrying the highest initial margin requirement among the five contracts.

MOEX has also established concentration limits for each contract. Its LK1 and LK2 limits range from 961 and 4,807 contracts for XRPUSDF to 124,490 and 622,450 for ETHUSDF.

Those figures cannot be directly compared as measures of market exposure because the contracts have different specifications and values. Brokers will also determine the final trading conditions available to individual qualified clients.

The launch builds on the Moscow Exchange's existing crypto derivatives business. The exchange already offers dated futures tied to crypto indexes and said on Sept. 16 that more than 72,000 qualified investors had traded its digital-asset futures.

Cumulative turnover in those products has exceeded 600 billion rubles, according to the exchange.

The new perpetual contracts remove the need to manually roll positions into later-dated futures. Each contract lasts one day and automatically rolls into the next trading period, allowing investors to maintain continuous exposure.

MOEX set the funding parameters K1 at 0% and K2 at 0.35%.

Despite the perpetual structure, the products remain cash-settled derivatives. Investors gain exposure to crypto prices through a regulated MOEX contract but never receive or hold the underlying cryptocurrency.