Offshore waves: how the ruble is becoming a painful trade

As liquidity dries up in markets affected by sanctions, trading is shifting from electronic venues

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the ruble market has gone back in time.

In recent years, the electronification of the foreign exchange spot market has steadily increased, and multi-dealer platforms – where prices between liquidity providers can be compared and executed on – have taken a greater share of the trades.

However, following the invasion, the small amount of ruble trading that is still being done in some offshore markets has mainly reverted to old-fashioned