Early trading in Bakkt’s physically-settled Bitcoin futures has been rather underwhelming, according to data from the platform’s parent, the Intercontinental Exchange.
The long anticipated launch, which has been cited as one of the major catalysts for BTC’s impressive turnaround this year, took place yesterday, but the trading volume Bakkt’s products managed to generate was largely disappointing. Only a couple of Bakkt’s daily Bitcoin contracts, which some view as the platform’s flagship offering, were traded during the first 24 hours.
“I’m shocked there isn’t any volume,” Lanre Sarumi, CEO of LevelTradingField, said, as quoted by industry website Coindesk. “I absolutely thought that contract was going to fly out of the gate. Very odd.”
Bakkt monthly contract fared better, although its volume was hardly impressive. The data shows that 71 monthly contracts changed hands in the first 24 hours since launch. On top of this, four contracts were traded in today’s early trading, according to the most recent data on the ICE website. The last quoted price for the monthly contract was $9,805.000.
According to some observers, the current lack of interest is likely due to the fact that the Bitcoin price has been moving in a tight range lately. Online publication Cointelgraph suggested that because of this, investors would not be in a hurry to initiate positions.
Bakkt’s chief executive officer Kelly Loeffler described yesterday’s launch as an “important step toward bringing trusted infrastructure to digital assets”.
“As institutions enter this emerging asset class, they will continue to look to secure infrastructure and the regulatory certainty that it provides. Importantly, these futures contracts now serve as benchmarks established by a trusted price discovery process upon which investors can rely,” Loeffler added.
Featured image: grejak /Shutterstock.com
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