RTS Classica, formerly known as the Classic Market, is the oldest organized stock market in Russia. On July 5, 1995, when trading was opened on the Classic Market, RTS terminals allowed trading participants to post quotes for Russian stocks and to negotiate the execution and settlement terms over the phone.
RTS Classica is based on absence of 100% preliminary depositing of assets and flexible settlement terms (including the opportunity to choose the date and terms of settlement and to settle in foreign currency) which make the operations highly effective. Trades on RTS Classica are executed on RTS Plaza trading terminals. Membership in RTS Classica is granted to professional participants of the securities market.
RTS Classica trades are a well-acknowledged price guideline for investorstrading in Russian stocks and depositary receipts representing Russian stocks whether they trade on RTS, over-the-counter or on other exchanges in Russia, Europe and USA.
RTS Classica offers a wide range of instruments including over 500 stocks, bonds and investment funds. Only high quality instruments are admitted to trading in Quotation lists А1, А2 and B provided that the issuers meet the strict information disclosure and corporate governance requirements established by RTS.
Central Counterparty
RTS provides CCP guarantees for a number of liquid stocks trading on RTS Classica.
CCP trades on RTS Classica are executed in a continuous double auction without 100% advance depositing of assets, i.e. the market participants can at the same time benefit from the simple and high speed order driven trading and the opportunity to trade without full preliminary depositing of assets.
On September 17, 2007 the Central Counterparty technology was introduced on the Classic Market. It provides for anonymity of settlement, increases reliability of trades and gives new opportunities to the RTS market participants, including settlement in foreign currency for residents.
- On June 30, 2008 RTS implemented its new electronic netting technology for settlement of CCP trades that significantly increased the effectiveness of the operations, due to the reduced asset requirements as of the delivery day. Obligations are calculated based on net positions.
RTS is the only Russian exchange to adopt netting. Multilateral netting eliminates bilateral counterparty risk, reduces total transaction costs for market members and simplifies settlement, raising the general market efficiency.
Implementation of netting makes the work of back-offices easier and enables the brokers to offer their clients better services on the Russian equity market encouraging competition. Brokers providing direct access to CCP trading on RTS via Internet trading systems are more competitive to both local and non-resident clients.
Instruments
Over 500 stocks, bonds and investment funds are trading on RTS Classica.
At this point nine of the most liquid stocks of Russian issuers are admitted to CCP trading. For each security market risk ratio is estimated for calculation of the collateral to be posted when orders are submitted and trades are executed.
Settlement
Standard settlement terms on RTS Classica:
- Delivery on Т+4
- Settlement in USD
- Delivery on DVP terms
Trading
The trading day on RTS Classica in the electronic trading mode coincides with market hours on all the other equity markets of RTS and lasts from10:00 am to 06:45 pm Moscow time.
