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- Not a moment's rest: what attracts Russians to weekend trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange
Not a moment's rest: what attracts Russians to weekend trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange
Investments of individuals in securities on the Moscow Stock Exchange showed growth, almost doubling compared to the previous month. They amounted to 256.9 billion rubles. In total, about 3 million people signed deals in February. Of these, 732.9 thousand are on weekends. This figure has become a record. Experts attribute the demand for such sessions to the dependence of the stock market on the geopolitical situation and the development of brokerage applications. How weekend trading is changing the securities market — in the Izvestia article.
Record growth
Investments of individuals in securities on the stock market of the Moscow Stock Exchange in February 2026 amounted to 256.9 billion rubles, an increase of 1.8 times compared to January, the press service of the trading platform reports.
In total, about 3 million people signed deals on the Moscow Stock Exchange in February, 732.9 thousand of them on weekends. This is 2.4 times the monthly average for the year, which indicates record activity. The main participants of the weekend session with a share of 84% were private investors.
The opportunity to bid on weekends appeared a little over a year ago — the Moscow Exchange launched this approach in an experimental mode from March 1, 2025. It was assumed that market participants would be gradually involved in the process as they were ready. Initially, the most liquid stocks were allowed to trade on the weekend.
At the same time, the Moscow Exchange continues to expand the opportunities of investors at such auctions. Since June 28, 2025, exchange-traded mutual funds (BPIFS) have become available in additional weekend trading sessions, which has expanded the list of instruments.
Work on setting up the weekend trading system continues now. In February of this year, the exchange announced the imminent admission to such bond sessions. Investors will be able to enter into transactions with federal loan bonds and the most liquid corporate bonds.
New features
The expansion of trading time is a global trend that is being discussed by regulators and the world's largest exchanges, said Boris Blokhin, Managing Director for the stock market and Digital Assets at the Moscow Stock Exchange. The Russian market has been at the forefront of this process.
— According to a study by the International Federation of Stock Exchanges, the trend towards increasing the duration of trading up to round—the-clock is caused by the democratization of exchange trading and the influx of private investors, as well as the development of quasi-markets such as the crypto market, - says a representative of the trading platform.
The first year of weekend trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange showed that people were waiting for such an opportunity, he claims. The share of private investors in weekend trading volume has exceeded 88% since the launch, with more than 100,000 people making transactions every day.
The infrastructure for such trades has matured gradually, recalls Denis Astafyev, an entrepreneur, fund manager and founder of the SharesPro fintech platform. And with it, the private investor's habit of logging into the app on a Saturday morning was also forming.
— Most retail investors are hired employees who, on weekdays, do not physically have time to monitor the market, analyze the portfolio and make informed decisions. Weekends give them time that is not enough during the working week," the expert explains.
Yulia Kuznetsova, investment adviser to the Central Bank registry and founder of the online investment university "Financology", also links the record for weekend trading with the behavioral factor.
"It's more convenient for people to sort out their portfolios and make decisions in their free time, without competing with their work schedule," she agrees.
It is on Saturday and Sunday that a person calmly sits down to study the news that has accumulated over the week, and can approach the deal more thoughtfully, Astafyev clarifies.
And the ability to quickly respond to news and events taking place in the global economy and geopolitics is especially relevant in conditions of increased volatility in global markets, said Yaroslav Kabakov, lecturer at the Higher School of Business at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Director of Strategy at Finam IC.
"The latest example of the escalation in Iran allowed individuals to buy shares in oil and gas companies over the weekend when the institutions were not trading," he draws attention.
The Russian stock market is currently reacting most strongly to political events, confirms Lyudmila Rokotianskaya, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.
— It is in this plane that bidders are looking for triggers and ideas. And many geopolitically significant events take place over the weekend," the Izvestia interlocutor explains, recalling that it is on these days that the United States often begins military maneuvers. Significant news about the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, which also affect the securities market, often appears on weekends.
In addition, the increase in the activity of private investors at weekend auctions is largely due to the change in the structure of the Russian stock market, Kabakov believes. It was the "private traders" who began to play a key role after the reduction in the presence of foreign investors. And the exchange is gradually adapting the trading mode to their behavior.
As a result, transactions that used to be concentrated at the beginning of the week are now partially postponed to the weekend, which led to a sharp increase in the number of participants and turnover, the expert emphasizes.
— Weekend trading gives investors flexibility and "reaction without pause", allowing them to buy or reduce a position without waiting for Monday, — says Kuznetsova.
The launch of trading sessions these days has already noticeably changed the behavior of investors, Astafyev is convinced. Such trades discipline participants — a person is less likely to make impulsive decisions under the influence of intraday volatility (a measure of the intensity of fluctuations in the price of a financial asset during one trading session without moving a position overnight) on weekdays and more often thinks strategically.
"Micro—behavior is also changing: short purchases and rebalancing in small volumes are more common, because weekend trading is more "portfolio" than institutional,— adds Kuznetsova.
Digital breakthrough
Brokerage applications also played a role in the observed dynamics of trading over the weekend, Denis Astafyev believes.
— The mobile interface, push notifications and 24/7 availability reduce the psychological threshold of entry. "Seizing the moment" in the morning while sitting at work is no longer necessary, he emphasizes.
The proliferation of mobile brokerage applications has made investments as accessible as possible, Yaroslav Kabakov agrees. Using the services, an account can be opened online in a few minutes. All trading is carried out through a smartphone.
"As a result, the stock market is gradually beginning to be perceived by private investors as a digital platform accessible at almost any time, rather than as a traditional exchange with severely limited trading hours," the expert believes.
The launch of additional trading sessions, in his opinion, actually consolidated the already established model of behavior of retail investors.
However, it is important to understand that trading is determined by the exchange's infrastructure and regulations, says Yulia Kuznetsova. And brokerage applications only remove the "friction", enhancing the observed effect. The exchange, for its part, is constantly expanding the opportunities of investors on weekends by adding new tools, Boris Blokhin recalls. In particular, 289 shares and units of exchange-traded mutual funds have been admitted to trading on the stock market over the weekend. At the end of the month, government and corporate bonds will be added to them.
The trend towards an increase in the number of transactions over the weekend is highly likely to continue, admits Kuznetsova. And the expansion of the list of instruments and the active promotion of this mode by brokers will only contribute to this.
"But the pace may become more even: growth will be based on liquidity, investor habits and volatility limits,— the investment adviser warns.
He expects an increase in the number of transactions over the weekend as the list of instruments available during these sessions expands and investors get used to the new trading regime and Pubs. But in terms of turnover, such trades are unlikely to be able to fully approach weekday sessions, since the activity of institutional investors over the weekend remains limited, he said.
Additional option
This fact forms the main risk of such a regime: liquidity on such days is lower than during normal trading hours, and spreads (the difference between the best purchase and sale prices of an asset on the stock exchange at one time) for individual securities may be wider, Yaroslav Kabakov emphasizes. In addition, due to the smaller number of large participants, individual transactions can have a stronger impact on price dynamics.
The liquidity of the instruments is supported by market makers (professional bidders who provide liquidity under an agreement with the exchange by constantly submitting bids for the purchase and sale of assets), says Denis Astafyev. However, there are practically no large institutional participants in the structure on Saturday and Sunday — their share on some days reaches 20%, but this is an exception, not the norm.
At the same time, the weekend session comes with additional restrictions on risk and volatility, adds Yulia Kuznetsova. In particular, the weekend price limits are narrowed to 3% of the value of the previous trading day. This is due to the fact that the price of securities at this time may be more sensitive to the news, and the movement may be less "deep" than on weekdays.
— The market is "thin" on weekends, and any large order can move the price more than on weekdays, — confirms Astafyev, explaining that this is why the price corridors are narrowed to 3%. He sees this approach as protection against sudden movements. But it also becomes a limitation for those who want to quickly lock in a position with unexpected news.
Another risk of trading on the stock market over the weekend is related to the fact that technically such a session is additional to Monday. This means that settlements take place in the T+1 mode (trading mode, in which settlements on a transaction take place on the next business day after it is completed), that is, on Tuesday. And it is important to take this into account when working with dividend securities, the Izvestia interlocutor emphasizes.
To a certain extent, trading on weekends smooths out sharp price gaps at the opening of the week, Kabakov believes. However, at the same time, the share of short-term and speculative transactions is increasing.
"As a result, weekend trading is gradually becoming an additional tool for private investors, increasing market flexibility, but for now it remains more of an auxiliary mode compared to the main trading session," the expert summarizes.
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