Russia Stock Market Closed: Trading Holidays Explained

How the closure calendar is actually set

The Moscow Exchange publishes a trading calendar for each year. It follows the official Russian public holiday list but is not identical to it: the exchange decides separately which days are full trading days, which are shortened, and whether any additional sessions run. That calendar, not a general holiday table, is what your broker routes orders against.

Two layers exist. The first is the national holiday schedule. The second is the exchange's own technical schedule, which covers the main session, the evening session and any additional weekend or off-hours trading the exchange operates. A day can be a public holiday yet still have limited trading, and a normal working day can be a settlement non-day for certain instruments.

• New Year holidays in the first days of January and Orthodox Christmas - the longest closure of the year
• Defender of the Fatherland Day in late February
• International Women's Day in early March
• Spring and Labour Day at the start of May, followed closely by Victory Day in mid-May - the second cluster of closures
• Russia Day in June and Unity Day in November
• Pre-holiday sessions are often shortened; the exchange flags this in advance

The two periods that matter most for planning

The January break is the one that catches foreign investors out. Russian markets close for an extended run around the New Year and Orthodox Christmas, while many international markets resume in the first working days of January. That mismatch creates a period where you can see price moves in related assets abroad but cannot act on the Russian side.

The May cluster is shorter but more disruptive to settlement because the two holidays fall close together. A trade executed in the last session before the break can settle several business days later, and cash from a sale may only become available for withdrawal after that. Budget for it rather than discovering it.

• Do not assume your broker's reporting currency window matches the trading calendar
• Currency conversion instructions submitted on the last pre-holiday day may execute after the break
• Margin and repo positions can accrue costs across the closure

What is closed and what is not

A closed equity market does not mean nothing in Russia is moving. Over-the-counter bilateral trades, some repo arrangements and certain bilateral FX operations can still be agreed between counterparties, but they do not produce an official exchange price. For valuation purposes you are effectively frozen at the last close.

The practical consequence is that any instrument priced off the exchange - funds, structured products, margin collateral - will also be valued at the last available exchange price until trading resumes. This is a mechanical effect, not a sign of a problem.

• Exchange trading in equities, bonds, derivatives and on-exchange FX follows the calendar
• Broker back-office, depositories and payment rails may work to a different schedule and can be slower across holiday clusters
• Off-exchange deals do not create a public reference price

Intraday halts are a separate mechanism

Besides holidays, the exchange can suspend or pause trading during a session. Technical failures, extreme price movement triggering circuit breakers, and settlement or clearing issues are the usual causes. These pauses are usually short and are announced on the exchange's own channels.

For a foreign investor the important point is that a halt does not equal a market closure for the day. Orders typically remain in the queue with the status your broker assigns, and cancellation windows may be narrower than during normal trading.

• Check the exchange's official notices, not social media, for the reason and expected duration
• Confirm with your broker how pending orders are treated when a session is suspended
• Repeated halts in a single name can be a liquidity signal worth noting

Why this matters more for non-residents

Russian residents and non-residents generally face the same trading calendar, but the consequences differ. Investors from countries designated unfriendly face special account regimes and government approval requirements for certain transactions, which means a decision taken before a holiday may still be blocked inside the break. Investors from friendly jurisdictions normally see fewer layers, though broker-level documentation checks still take time.

Separately, acquisitions in strategic sectors require approval under Law 57-FZ. If a transaction needs that clearance, the trading calendar is irrelevant - the binding constraint is the approval timeline.

• Confirm in advance whether your jurisdiction falls under the special account regime
• Ask your broker how corporate actions and dividend or coupon payments landing inside a holiday period are credited
• Keep a buffer of several business days around long closures for any instruction that needs approval

A practical checklist before a closure

Treat the exchange calendar as a hard constraint in your planning, in the same way you would treat a settlement deadline. The steps below are the order that works in practice.

Note that Russian market infrastructure has developed considerably: the Bank of Russia reported 106 licensed investment platforms as of May 2026, and the stock market's capitalisation stood at 19.5% of GDP as of August 2026 against a target of 66% by 2030. That growth in participation means holiday-driven order flow is heavier than it once was, especially in the final session before a long break.

• Step 1: download the exchange's official calendar for the current year and mark every non-trading day
• Step 2: identify which of your positions have settlement or coupon dates falling inside those windows
• Step 3: give your broker written instructions earlier than usual, allowing for back-office queues
• Step 4: check whether your custodian or sub-custodian observes additional local non-working days
• Step 5: review margin headroom so a multi-day closure cannot force a sale on reopening
• Step 6: on the first session after the break, expect a wider spread and concentrated order flow

Where to verify, and what to ignore

The authoritative sources are the exchange's own trading calendar and your broker's notices. News headlines about the Russian market being closed are often about something else: a technical suspension, a single suspended security, or a foreign venue's decision about its own instruments. Read the source before drawing conclusions about your ability to trade.

Wider context is useful for calibrating risk rather than predicting direction. The Bank of Russia key rate stood at 14% in September 2026, and 88% of retail payments in Russia were cashless in 2025, according to the Bank of Russia - a reminder that market infrastructure functions continuously even when the exchange does not.

• Exchange trading calendar and official notices - first source
• Your broker's client notices and settlement schedule - second source
• Custodian or sub-custodian local holiday list - third source
• Everything else is commentary

FAQ