on Monday, 20 April, the futures on the American WTI with delivery in April has reached a historic low of minus 40.32 USD per barrel due to overcrowding in storage capacity producers were willing to pay a “buyers” just to sell oil with it.
On the Moscow exchange, trading was suspended after reaching the lower border of the price corridor set by the exchange (8.84 USD per barrel). On the night of 21 April, the exchange said that contracts for WTI with an expiration of April 21 will be executed at the price prevailing on the new York Mercantile exchange (NYMEX) – minus 37.63 USD per barrel.
Members of the Russian trading complained of losses incurred.
Immediately after this, the national Association of securities market participants (NAUFOR) has asked the exchange to allow operations with derivative financial instruments in respect of crude oil and other underlying assets in the case of negative prices, and when you reach a border of the price corridor of the derivative during the evening session. Otherwise, the Russian participants will lose the opportunity to minimize their losses and to quickly close positions, the letter said NAUFOR.
the Moscow exchange is planning to soon introduce a mechanism of changes in the boundaries of the price corridor at the international benchmarks, the futures are actively traded on international markets during the evening session in Moscow, according to the exchange. But the exchange refused to recalculate expiry prices for clients as CME Group (includes NYMEX) indicated the validity of prices the April contract for WTI and the lack of planning for its review.
