The Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX) is advancing a major role shift to become a "risk management tool" for investors, launching new products such as Mini Gold and short-term contracts to make access easier for retail investors.
Tritawat Wangworawut, Managing Director of Thailand Futures Exchange Public Company Limited (TFEX), said at the Meet The Press event that the Stock Exchange's key goal this year is to dispel the perception that TFEX is merely a complex speculative market. Instead, it aims to make TFEX accessible to retail investors as a "risk management tool."
"TFEX is not just a tool for speculators; it is a risk management instrument for investors. Investing is like drawing with a pencil—you buy stocks, funds, or gold to build a portfolio. Without an 'eraser,' if you make a mistake, you cannot fix it. TFEX acts like an eraser, helping to reduce or prevent risk when investments do not go as planned."
To explain TFEX more clearly, the reporter offers the following hypothetical example.
Suppose Mr. A has a stock portfolio valued at 500,000 baht. One day, market conditions suggest a possible downturn, but Mr. A does not want to sell his stocks because he believes in their long-term value. He can use TFEX as a risk management tool without selling his holdings.
For example, if Mr. A fears a stock decline, he can use SET50 Futures to profit from a downward market. If the stocks do fall, profits from TFEX can offset losses in Mr. A's portfolio. If stocks do not decline, his portfolio continues to grow. In short, TFEX helps reduce portfolio risk without requiring asset sales.
With this explanation, we can now answer how TFEX serves as a risk management tool for investors.
A major highlight this year is the launch of Mini Gold Online Futures, a smaller-sized futures contract referencing global gold prices.
Previously, one Gold Online Futures contract equated to 10 ounces of gold and required over 100,000 baht in margin, limiting retail access. Mini Gold reduces the size to 1 ounce—ten times smaller—allowing investment starting at tens of thousands of baht, while still enabling profit or risk hedging from gold price movements. Investors do not need to hold physical gold and can profit from both rising and falling prices. TFEX is also studying the introduction of Mini Silver.
TFEX also plans to introduce new contracts to serve both short- and long-term investors, such as:
Short-date Options: Short-term contracts, like weekly options, allowing investors to hedge risks during periods of short-term market volatility.
Spot-like products: New futures contracts designed to closely resemble actual asset purchases (spot transactions).
Strategy Builder: A tool to help design options strategies and predefine risk levels.
In addition to new products, the Stock Exchange plans to revamp the Streaming Mobile app this year to enhance ease of use and enable investors to integrate derivatives more conveniently with their stock portfolios.
The long-term goal is to make TFEX an "essential platform" within every investor's portfolio, not just a niche tool.
The TFEX Managing Director also noted that while there are about 4 million Thai investors, fewer than 10% currently use TFEX. In 2025, TFEX recorded total trading volume of 100.4 million contracts, averaging 416,352 contracts daily—a decrease from the previous year due to a sluggish stock market. However, early in 2026, daily average trading volume rose to 534,258 contracts, a 28% increase, reflecting growing demand for risk management tools amid market volatility.
The most popular products remain those linked to the stock market, such as SET50 Futures, SET50 Options, and Stock Futures, which together account for 77% of total trading volume, as investors use these to hedge stock portfolio risks.