Bakkt saw an overnight spike in Bitcoin futures trading volumes, despite the relatively sluggish price action. BTC’s trek to above the $9,400 mark inspired futures markets to gain activity.
Bakkt Grows its Bitcoin Futures Activity Slowly
The Bakkt Bitcoin futures platform traded 1,061 contracts today, which is a 96% appreciation from the previous day.
ICYMI: Tuesday's Bakkt Bitcoin Monthly Futures:
Traded contracts: 1061 (+96%)
Day before: 541
All time high: 1183
*bleep blop* tip sats for server costs https://t.co/TF6sNUwWpO
pic.twitter.com/cyC9VAnwFe
— Bakkt Volume Bot (@BakktBot) November 6, 2019
Bots tracked the physical delivery of 529 BTC in the past day. At the same time, spot markets and crypto-to-crypto exchanges held their separate Bitcoin price discovery mechanism, trading above 3 million BTC (the equivalent of $24 billion) in a day.
BTC Sentiment Remains Neutral
BTC is trading at [coin_price], on mixed sentiment. Price has hiked above and below the $9,400 mark, but never crossed the $9,500 mark. A few days ago, Bakkt exceeded $1 million in open interest, which is still a fraction of the volume hoarded by bitcoin derivatives exchange BitMEX where $1 billion in open interest has been observed numerous times since June 2019.
But open interest has been growing on Bakkt, potentially leading the exchange to evolve. If the example of the CME market is taken into consideration, the futures markets have grown significantly over time.
Bakkt slowly taking off – total open interest just crossed $1mln with volumes also ramping up a quite a bit this week.
Don't bet against Jeff Sprecher! pic.twitter.com/3f7C8czO18
— skew (@skewdotcom) November 2, 2019
The Bakkt Bitcoin futures are running into their second month, and exist in a period of increased BTC volatility. After September 23, BTC plunged below $10,000, only recovering briefly to above that level in the past week. But now, activity has returned, with the fight for the $9,500 level.
Bakkt is also a month away from offering options on futures, a derivative tool for mitigating price risk. The deadline for the new product is December 9. The institutional bitcoin investment platform is considered a source of “new money” flowing into BTC, and the slow start is not indicative of the future potential. So far, the Bakkt growth pace is slow, but the overall progress is commendable.
Bitcoin futures exchanges have become one of the most significant platforms for active BTC trading. According to a recent preview from former Commodities Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo, the Bitcoin futures markets are attracting well-capitalized entities that have a deeper understanding of hedging BTC risk.
What do you think of Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures performance? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images via Shutterstock, Twitter: @BakktBot, @skewdotcom