It seems reasonable to say that 1993 is a year of development for the Russian stock exchange. We observe a sharp increase in the amount of traded securities, and the appearance of a rather liquid asset — the voucher. As a consequence of the expanded credit market and increased turnover of currency transactions, futures and option contracts came into practice. The development of the security market structure made investment on the stock exchange possible. Despite of rich experience accumulated in developed western economies, its immediate implementation into the Russian stock exchange is impossible not taking into account the features peculiar to developing market relations of the transition period.In this paper, we propose a brief overview of the distinguishing features of the Russian stock exchange. It should be pointed out that this review is not aimed at a development of the complete pattern for the Russian stock market. For instance, the analysis of the debt securities (short-term bonds, bills, notes,...