The RTS Index was Russia’s main dollar-denominated stock index during the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
The Russian Trading System began operating in 1995 and created a more formal marketplace for Russian shares. Its index, commonly called the RTS Index, became a widely watched measure of large Russian companies and was quoted in U.S. dollars.
In 1998, Russia faced falling commodity prices, weak tax collection, heavy government borrowing, and pressure on the ruble. The government defaulted on domestic debt and devalued the currency in August. Russian equities suffered an extraordinary collapse; the RTS Index fell roughly 87% during 1998.
The RTS Index is not the same as the later MICEX Index. Russia’s principal exchanges merged in 2011 to form the Moscow Exchange, and the combined market later used the MOEX Russia Index. Thus, historical accounts of the 1998 crash generally refer to the RTS rather than today’s MOEX benchmark.