The number of investors on the Sibiu Monetary-Financial and Commodities Exchange exceeded 2,300 at the end of January, reaching almost 20% of individual accounts on this exchange, a significant growth as compared to the beginning of 2005, when only a few of the investors ventured onto the futures market. Margin trading, the possibility of reinvesting profits without closing their positions, the volatility of shares listed on the spot market and the fluctuation of the exchange rate made investing in derivative financial instruments increasingly attractive for investors. As a result, investments on the Sibiu market saw a fast-paced growth in the second part of last year, with the growth continuing in the first month of this year, when the number of contracts traded reached new highs once every few days. ZF