The sharp rise in the Bitcoin price has revived speculators. The trading volume of cryptocurrency futures on the SPB Exchange reached a record 70 billion rubles in two days, while Forex market participants also recorded a twofold increase in the trading volume of Bitcoin CFDs. However, cryptocurrency futures remain a niche instrument, interesting only to a limited circle of traders.
On August 20, trading volumes of "neo-assets," perpetual settled futures, on the SPB Exchange exceeded 50 billion rubles for the first time, the platform announced on August 21. On August 19, their trading volume reached 26 billion rubles. The share of these contracts in the total trading volume was about 80% on both days. The exchange regularly reports an increase in the trading volume of "neo-assets," but before this, the trading volume rarely exceeded 10 billion rubles.
As explained to Kommersant at the exchange, the main trading volume on August 19 and 20 came from cryptocurrency instruments: over the two days, the trading volume for them amounted to 70 billion rubles, with the Bitcoin contract being the most popular.
Investors were actively playing the rise in cryptocurrency prices, experts point out. "Sharp price fluctuations always attract traders, and neo-assets are convenient due to the absence of intraday commissions and built-in leverage," notes Denis Degtyar, personal financial advisor at "GBIG Holdings." On August 19, the price of Bitcoin began to rise rapidly and soared by more than 12% in three days, exceeding $77 thousand for the first time since May, and the rise in quotes was further amplified by the mass closing of short positions (see Kommersant, August 21).
Managing Director of the Derivatives Market at the Moscow Exchange, Maria Patrikeeva, also noted that the daily trading volume of futures linked to cryptocurrency increased significantly over two days, reaching 8 billion rubles.
Clients of Forex dealers also hurried to play the sharp rise in quotes. Professional participants launched CFDs on cryptocurrencies in the summer of 2026 (see Kommersant, July 24). "Trading activity at 'Alfa-Forex' noticeably increased, especially for Bitcoin contracts, where trading volumes reached 5.5–6.5 million rubles per day, while throughout August the average daily trading volume of Bitcoin contracts was 2.5 million rubles," stated its CEO, Guzel Protsenko. The CEO of "BKS Forex," Taras Danilyuk, reported that "the volume of open positions for CFDs on crypto-assets approximately doubled on these days."
However, even despite the volatility of the crypto market, cryptocurrency futures remain a niche instrument for speculators, market participants indicate. On the Moscow Exchange, the trading volume of cryptocurrency futures in July, according to Kommersant's estimate, was less than 40 billion rubles, while the trading volume of futures for the USD/RUB exchange rate with September execution, for example, amounted to 164 billion rubles on August 20 alone, and the trading volume of September gold futures was 71 billion rubles for the day.
According to the estimate of Pavel Gavrilov, an investment analyst at "Alfa-Investments," this is due to the lack of demand for cryptocurrencies from large investors looking to hedge risks.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that exchanges have breaks at night and on weekends, which "creates a risk of large gaps at the opening of trading," notes Oleg Abelev, head of the investment department at IK "Rikom Trust." Meanwhile, holding long-term positions is complicated by additional costs: SPB Exchange charges a fee for carrying a position over to the next day, and Moscow Exchange's futures involve daily revaluation of variation margin, which can partially eat into profits, experts point out. "Investors avoid cryptocurrency contracts also because price changes in crypto are much less predictable compared to traditional assets," notes Alexey Primak, founder of IFIT.
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