Trading volume on the derivatives market reached a record high in February since it started operating in August 2018, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) said.

Trading volume on the derivatives market reached a record high in February since it started operating in August 2018.

Although there were only 15 trading days in the month due to long Tet holidays, total transaction contracts reached 421,824 with combined par value of nearly 44.67 trillion VND (1.96 billion USD), up 3.21 percent and 2.98 percent, respectively, from the previous month.

The average trading volume on the market enjoyed a month-on-month surge of 51.37 percent to 22,122 contracts per session, with value averaging nearly 3 trillion VND (133.3 million USD). This was the highest trading data in the market’s seven-month existence.

As of February 28, total open market volume was 11,461 contracts, also a record high. The HNX attributed the increase of the open market volume to investors’ interest in derivatives products, which was demonstrated through the 9.51 percent growth of trading account numbers against January to 21,819 accounts.

Most of the investments on the market came from individual investors who dominated 97.87 percent of the total transactions. Meanwhile, trading of domestic institutional investors only accounted for 0.16 percent.

According to the HNX, the derivatives market has served as an effective investment channel and a hedge of risk that helps stabilise the investors’ psychology, especially when the market was highly volatile.

While the VN-Index tapered off over 93 points on February 5-6, the derivatives market still went vibrant with a record of 39,311 transactions on February 6.

The derivatives market has operated smoothly with sound information system that provides timely and accurate information for the investors.

The derivatives market opens at 8.45am, 15 minutes earlier than the opening hour of the stock market and close at 3pm. Prices of products are allowed to fluctuate by /- 7 percent and price quotation is 0.1 VN30 index point.-VNA