RoboForex Set USD/RUB Trading Schedule, Close Position Only
RoboForex, a regulated broker in New Zealand, yesterday announced changes to the trading schedule for the USD/RUB currency. On the broker's website, it is stated that from today December 17th, from 9 am to 6 pm server time, USD/RUB will be traded only in "Close only" mode. That is, traders will only be able to close positions without being able to open positions during that time.
After the 6 pm deadline, the USD/RUB leverage is fixed at 1:10 only. Please note that this change will affect all positions regardless of what time the open position was made. The RoboForex broker himself recommends his clients reduce the volume of open positions on these instruments and make changes to the EA settings if necessary.
RoboForex USD/RUB Trading Schedule
The liquidity of the USD/RUB pair will be significantly reduced and strictly limited by the trading schedule at the specified hours mentioned above. And from 31 December 2014 to 11 January 2015, these pairs could not be used for trading. The schedule is as follows:
December 31, 2014 to January 11, 2015 - no trading at all.
January 12, 2015 – trading starts at 9am server time.
And from January 12th, USD/RUB will be available and tradable as usual. RoboForex warns that the liquidity level of the USD/RUB pair is likely to have an impact on increasing the spread. Therefore, clients must exercise reasonable judgment before trading with Russian ruble crosses.
RoboForex is not the only broker that changed the rules for its USD/RUB instruments. Other brokers such as Dukascopy, Alpari RU, e-Toro, and FXCM did the same or temporarily stopped trading on ruble crosses. The cause was the fall in the ruble exchange rate against the US dollar, which this year alone has fallen by more than 50% and resulted in liquidity difficulties in Russian banks.
Lately, Russia's economy has been in a slump due to falling oil prices and the dispute with Ukraine, so the Western bloc has imposed economic sanctions on Russia. Conditions like this have led to speculation that the government will implement centralized control (Capital Control). If that happens, it could mean that the forex broker will stop trading the Russian ruble entirely.