The RTS Index fell about 85% during Russia's 1998 financial crisis.
The Russian Trading System, or RTS, was established in 1995 and became a major benchmark for Russian equities. In 1998, falling commodity prices, weak tax collection, political instability, and heavy government borrowing combined to undermine confidence in Russia's financial system.
Russia devalued the ruble, restructured domestic debt, and temporarily declared a moratorium on some foreign debt payments in August 1998. The stock market collapse reflected both the immediate crisis and the limited liquidity of Russian markets. The index's fall was among the most dramatic equity-market declines of the late twentieth century.
The RTS is sometimes confused with the MICEX Index, another important Russian benchmark. The two exchanges later merged, and the combined Moscow Exchange became the central trading venue, but the 1998 crash is conventionally discussed using the RTS benchmark.