The suspension of trading in the world’s largest Russia ETF has left the fate of options worth hundreds of millions of dollars hanging.
Cboe Global Markets Inc. halted trading of shares and options in the VanEck Russia ETF (ticker RSX) after the market close Friday as the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine made the fund’s underlying securities practically impossible to trade.
At the time there were about 1 million options tied to the exchange-traded fund worth roughly $285 million, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That was the highest level since 2014.
“There’s no way to know exactly how this is going to play out,” said James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at BI. He expects the Options Clearing Corp. to cash-settle the contracts, but if the fund still isn’t trading or hasn’t liquidated by the expiration dates, it’s unclear at what price.
The clock is ticking, with the earliest contracts tied to RSX range expiring from as soon as March 11 until January 2024, per BI.
A spokesperson for the OCC said it “anticipates that any exercises and assignments of existing RSX option positions will be subject to OCC’s standard processing and should settle in the normal course. OCC will continue to monitor for any changes.”
RSX is one of a slew of Russia-focused funds halted on exchanges worldwide in the fallout from the Ukraine war. Sanctions and Russia’s response, including introducing capital controls and temporarily shutting the Moscow market, have made valuing the nation’s securities a tall order.
RSX was pricing at a premium of more than 500% to its underlying assets when it halted, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In other words, despite the ETF falling almost 80% this year, its underlying assets are seen to have dropped far further.
It all plays havoc with pricing options connected to the fund.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.