Bakkt Is Now Live. First Details About Trading Volume and Bitcoin Price Reaction After Much-Hyped Launch

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  Alex Dovbnya

  Mon, 09/23/2019 - 06:08

  📰 News

  Bakkt is off to a cold start with the Bitcoin price hovering slightly above the $10,000 mark

Bakkt, a new venture of the Intercontinental Exchange, has finally launched its Bitcoin futures contracts on Sept. 23.

While there is a lot of excitement in the air, the cryptocurrency market remains dormant with Bitcoin (BTC) moving less than one percent over the last 24 hours.

We’re live!

The first Bakkt Bitcoin Futures trade was executed at 8:02pm ET at a price of $10,115

— Bakkt (@Bakkt) September 23, 2019

Physically-delivered Bitcoin futures

CME has already asserted its dominance in the realm of cash-settled Bitcoin futures after its rival Cboe left the playing field back in March. However, Bakkt offers a completely different product – traders who bet on the future Bitcoin price moves will be able to receive their payouts in Bitcoin (hence, they are called-physically delivered).

According to eToro’s Mati Greenspan, the launch of Bakkt, which had been delayed multiple times, was the main catalyst for Bitcoin’s massive rally in 2019.

The launch of physically settled futures from Bakkt has been one of the main narratives behind the monster bitcoin rally during the first half of the year,” Greenspan told The Wall Street Journal.

Bakkt has launched its futures before LedgerX and ErisX achieved a similar feat.

Is Bakkt flopping?

At the time of writing, Bakkt has registered only 13 BTC of trading volume, which is insanely low. Of course, this amount is expected to grow throughout the day, but the afore-mentioned number is very alarming.

Bitcoin has barely moved an inch after the Bakkt launch despite the lion’s share of traders expecting more volatility. It is currently sitting at $9,953, according to CoinStats data.

As reported by U.Today, the VanEck/SolidX ETF proposal was withdrawn after their Bitcoin trust showed very little demand.

VanEck cancelled their ETF after only 4 BTC worth of blocks sold.

So far Bakkt has doubled that to a whopping 8 BTC.

Institutional money... ain't excited.

— Bryce Weiner (@BryceWeiner) September 23, 2019

However, one shouldn’t forget that Bakkt is a brainchild of Jeff Sprecher who is unlikely to let his first crypto venture flop.