Russia’s equity market has taken a turn for the worse in recent sessions amid what else, heightened tensions in Ukraine and renewed sanctions pressure, and we have seen a pick-up in activity in RSX (Market Vectors
Russia) which is likely not a surprise.
November 21 puts which are well out of the money were in play on Friday, and it is worth noting that RSX did have a $21 handle back in April of this year before rallying decisively through the rest of the spring.
The fund itself has seen greater than average volume in the past couple sessions and modest net inflows (+>$13 million) and is now a $1.6 billion fund, with a massive 6.1 million shares traded daily.
The triple leveraged daily products RUSL (Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3X Shares, Expense Ratio 0.95%) and RUSS (Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3X Shares, Expense Ratio 0.95%) have been the recipient of some attention in the past several months during this turbulent time for Russia as well, with RUSL growing to be a $107 million fund and averaging more than 518,000 shares traded daily at this point.
RUSS remains smaller, with about $25 million in assets under management and trading about 326,000 shares daily.