Russia's regulated forex market posted a record quarterly trading volume of $68.6 billion in Q1 2026. The number tells a story of growth. The data behind it tells a different one.Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)The latest statistical report from the market's self-regulatory organization reveals a sector that is less a competitive market than a structured monopoly with a long tail of inactive accounts.One Firm, 90% of VolumeOf the total quarterly volume, 90.6% came from clients of a single firm: Alfa-Forex. There are three licensed forex dealers in Russia. Two of them, combined, account for less than 10% of turnover. Whatever the headline figure implies about market health, the competitive structure doesn't support it.Total registered client accounts grew 8% year-on-year to 183,023. Active accounts — those with actual trading activity — numbered 24,011. It means that 's 87% of all open accounts sitting dormant, with minimal or no funds, with 83,000 accounts have zero balance.The gap is almost certainly a product of bank-run marketing campaigns that reward account opening with perks, without requiring any actual capital commitment. It creates a client count that looks like a mass market and functions like a waiting list.The average balance across all 183,023 accounts is $444 — down from $975 at end-2022. Among active traders, the figure is $3,390. The divergence between those two numbers is the real structure of this market: a small, concentrated group of well-capitalized traders generating almost all of the volume, surrounded by a large pool of nominal accounts.It reflects regulatory decisions made several years ago, when the central bank of Russia revoked licenses from a number of retail forex brokers, consolidating the domestic market around a small group of bank-affiliated dealers. Much of the retail flow moved offshore as a result, leaving the regulated segment with a narrower and more concentrated client baseWhat This Means For the B2B IndustryThe Russian forex market is not a mass-market opportunity waiting to be unlocked. The roughly 40 million retail investors often cited for Russia’s stock market have no equivalent in forex.The real addressable market is the active segment — fewer than 25,000 traders with higher balances who generate the bulk of trading flow. That's where the volume is and where the competitive pressure actually plays out.Record turnover alongside 90% concentration points to a market that remains structurally limited despite rising volumes.This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.