Saudi Arabia Cut Derivatives Fees — and One Day Exceeded All of 2025

Last verified: 1 September 2026. Saudi Arabia’s derivatives market produced 1,366 futures contracts with approximately SAR60.0 million of traded value in the month-to-date report for 20 August 2026. The figure came immediately after Saudi Exchange and Muqassa introduced lower costs, optimized margins and a new market-making structure on 19 August. [S1] [S2]

For scale, Saudi Tadawul Group reported only 401 derivatives contracts and SAR1.23 million of derivatives value in the whole of 2025. [S3] The 20 August month-to-date futures count was 3.4 times the prior full-year total, and value was almost 49 times higher.

That is a real activation event. It is not yet a liquid market. The same 20 August report showed only five contracts of disclosed open interest, all in STC September futures; most lines were blank. Trading turnover can be generated by market makers entering and exiting positions. Open interest shows contracts still outstanding after offsetting trades and is a better early test of whether hedgers are building exposure.

The August data are an early post-reform snapshot, not an average daily run rate. The appropriate verdict is “activity switched on”; persistence remains unproved.

The market existed before the reform but barely traded

Saudi Exchange launched MT30 Index Futures in August 2020, Single Stock Futures in July 2022 and Single Stock Options in November 2023. The infrastructure included electronic trading, central clearing through Muqassa, daily mark-to-market settlement and the ability to take leveraged long or short exposure without borrowing shares. [S4]

Infrastructure did not produce steady liquidity. In 2024, Muqassa reported clearing 121 index-futures contracts, 3,501 single-stock futures and 59 single-stock options, with about SAR39.21 million in cleared derivatives value. [S5] In 2025, the Group’s overall derivatives volume fell to 401 and value to SAR1.23 million—approximately 89 per cent and 96.9 per cent below those respective 2024 scope totals.

The comparison is not perfectly like-for-like: the 2024 Muqassa metrics identify three product categories, while the 2025 annual headline labels aggregate derivatives. But the orders of magnitude establish the problem the August package is trying to solve. Saudi Arabia had contracts, rules and clearing; it lacked recurring two-sided activity.

An illiquid futures market is circular. Hedgers avoid wide spreads and uncertain exit capacity; their absence gives market makers less natural order flow; low volume discourages brokers and institutions from integrating the product; and without those participants, spreads remain wide.

Five market makers now sit behind SNB Capital

Saudi Exchange approved SNB Capital to make markets in MT30 futures and futures on Saudi Aramco, stc, Ma’aden, Saudi National Bank and Al Rajhi Bank. It said SNB Capital began on 19 August after termination of a previous market-making agreement. Market makers must provide bids and offers and meet requirements for depth, trading volume and time present in the order book. [S6]

The broader arrangement names Corvus, Binevenagh, BLS Futures Ltd, Eighteen Eight Solutions and MET Traders as participating firms, with Saudi Exchange contracting through SNB Capital on their behalf. [S1]

This is an unusual but rational activation design: professional liquidity firms can quote while a Saudi capital-market institution provides the local membership and operational bridge. The exchange can enforce minimum standards rather than hoping discretionary traders produce continuous prices.

Presence is not the same as depth. A quote can satisfy a formal obligation while being too small or wide for an institutional hedge. The public dashboard should publish, by contract:

• percentage of continuous session with valid two-sided quotes;
• median and 95th-percentile bid–ask spread;
• displayed quantity within specified price bands;
• trades and value initiated by non-market-makers;
• open interest and number of beneficial-owner accounts; and
• roll volume from expiring into later contracts.

Those measures would show whether market makers are enabling end-user activity or trading mainly inside an incentive programme.

Fees fell, then parts were waived for one year

The reform reduces trading, clearing and regulatory fees and lowers final-settlement costs. Saudi Exchange also announced a full one-year waiver for futures transaction and final-settlement fees, while Muqassa waived charges for Additional Segregated Accounts and give-up/take-up services. [S1]

The exchange’s updated public product page lists transaction costs of SAR7 per MT30 futures contract and SAR1.40 per single-stock futures contract, excluding brokerage. It previously displayed a different charging basis—SAR25 per index contract and 2.5 basis points of transaction value for single-stock futures—in cached product material. [S7]

The index schedule’s listed reduction from SAR25 to SAR7 is 72 per cent before the temporary waiver. The single-stock comparison should not be reduced to one percentage because the published basis changed from a value rate to a fixed amount. At an underlying share price of SAR50 and a 100-share contract, 2.5 basis points would equal SAR1.25; at SAR25 it would equal SAR0.625. A fixed SAR1.40 affects low- and high-priced underlyings differently.

Nor does the waiver mean every trader’s total cost is zero. Brokerage, bid–ask spread, market impact, margin funding, data and operational costs can remain. The exchange announcement should be read as a waiver of specified venue and settlement lines, not a promise of costless futures trading.

Fees matter most when the order book is already usable. Saving a few riyals cannot compensate an investor for crossing a wide spread or being unable to exit. The success sequence is tighter quotes, end-user flow, open interest and then price competition among brokers.

Margin optimization addresses capital, not economic risk

Futures require initial margin and daily variation margin rather than full payment of the notional exposure. Muqassa said it optimized single-stock futures margins and introduced a public calculator. [S1]

Portfolio-aware margining can recognize offsetting risk. An investor long one exposure and short a correlated or identical maturity may need less collateral than if both legs were margined independently. Give-up/take-up services can also let execution and clearing be handled across different members, which matters to institutions.

Lower margin improves capital efficiency but raises no free economic capacity. A contract can move against the holder, generating daily cash calls. If margin is cut too aggressively, the clearing house absorbs more default risk; if it is too conservative, the product is uneconomic versus cash, swaps or offshore hedges.

The public calculator is useful, but a benchmark needs actual rates by product, stress add-ons, concentration charges, spread credits and historical margin-call experience. Comparing Saudi margins with CME, Nasdaq Dubai or any other venue without normalizing contract multiplier, volatility, settlement and portfolio offsets would be misleading.

The first post-reform day was concentrated

The 20 August report recorded 372 MT30 contracts, of which 370 were September maturity. That index line generated SAR54.50 million, or 90.8 per cent of the SAR60.01-million total futures value. [S2]

Single-stock activity totalled 994 contracts. STC led with 434, followed by Ma’aden with 150, Al Rajhi and SNB with 140 each, and Aramco with 130. Five other named single-stock futures had zero reported volume. STC was also the only line with open interest shown, at five contracts.

This concentration is normal for a launch intervention: liquidity programmes often focus on near expiries and selected liquid underlyings. It also limits the claim. A market where one index maturity provides nine-tenths of value is not yet a broad risk-transfer ecosystem.

The next maturity test is crucial. If participants roll September into December and open interest survives, the market is retaining positions. If activity disappears after a burst of incentive-driven trades, August will have been a technical activation rather than durable liquidity.

Foreign access is legally possible; operational access is the constraint

Saudi Exchange described Single Stock Futures at launch as available to local and international investors and presents derivatives as tools for hedging and portfolio management. [S8] Formal eligibility, however, is only one step.

An institution needs a broker and clearing arrangement, approved documentation, limits, risk systems, market data, accounting and legal treatment, and enough liquidity to execute its hedge. International firms also compare Saudi futures with cash equities, securities lending, swaps and offshore instruments.

The five professional market makers can solve part of the execution problem. They cannot create natural demand from asset managers, banks, insurers, corporates and retail investors. Education, clearing access and confidence in predictable rules must follow.

Countercase: the August jump is exactly what an activation package should do

It would be too sceptical to dismiss 1,366 contracts as artificial. Market makers are supposed to seed liquidity. A market cannot reach organic depth without reliable quotes, and early incentives compensate firms for maintaining them before order flow is self-sustaining.

The 20 August value was nearly 49 times the 2025 annual figure on the reported bases. Even if much of it came from liquidity providers, it demonstrates that infrastructure, membership and products can process a larger market.

The question is not whether incentives influenced volume—they were designed to. It is whether spreads, open interest and non-market-maker participation continue to improve as the intervention matures.

What would falsify this assessment

Revised August data showing material open interest across multiple maturities would make the market deeper than the 20 August snapshot indicates. Persistent monthly volume, tighter spreads and growing end-user accounts would convert activation into liquidity.

The hardest test arrives when the one-year fee waiver expires around August 2027. If volume and open interest survive at the permanent fee schedule, participants value the contracts for risk transfer. If activity collapses, the waiver purchased turnover without a durable market.

Saudi Arabia has moved beyond merely listing derivatives. It has now paid for continuous pricing, reduced friction and generated an immediate volume response. The world-class measure is not a one-day multiple of a tiny base. It is a market where investors can open, hedge, roll and close meaningful positions without the incentive machinery being the main counterparty.

Related Vision 2030 Context

• Saudi Arabia’s new procurement law trades speed for auditable discretion
• PIF’s 2025 accounts separate profit from comprehensive loss
• Aramco’s Q2 free cash flow covered less than its dividend

Sources

1. [S1] Saudi Exchange and Muqassa, “Structural Enhancements for Derivatives Market Development,” effective 19 August 2026, announced 26 August 2026. Saudi Exchange market notice
2. [S2] Saudi Exchange, Derivatives Monthly Report, market date 20 August 2026. https://www.saudiexchange.sa/Resources/Reports-v2/Monthly_Derivatives_en.html
3. [S3] Saudi Tadawul Group, Annual Report 2025, operating highlights. Saudi Tadawul Group Annual Report 2025
4. [S4] Saudi Exchange, derivatives market structure, products, settlement and risk overview, accessed 31 August 2026. Saudi Exchange derivatives overview
5. [S5] Saudi Tadawul Group, Annual Report 2024, Muqassa derivatives-market metrics. Saudi Tadawul Group Annual Report 2024
6. [S6] Saudi Exchange, “Approval of SNB Capital as Market Maker for MT30 and Single Stock Futures,” 26 August 2026. Saudi Exchange market-maker approval
7. [S7] Saudi Exchange, published derivatives transaction costs before and after August 2026 page update; current page accessed 31 August 2026. Saudi Exchange derivatives fees
8. [S8] Saudi Exchange, “Launch of Single Stock Futures Contracts,” 26 June 2022. Saudi Exchange SSF launch notice