Bakkt BTC Futures Sets New $15M Volume Record

ATLANTA, Georgia – Bakkt Bitcoin futures are gaining strength even as the currency itself went back to below $9,000.

The Bitcoin (BTC) has been struggling for 24 hours now. The coin has slipped by 5%, falling from a high of $9,250 and landing at $8,700. It has lost its critical support level at $9,000 after standing strong over it for almost two weeks.

The bearish move is not surprising as the Bitcoin grew steadily weaker this week and didn’t appear capable of getting past the resistance. With the outflow from cryptocurrency exchanges accumulating and the bear-like on-chain metrics, it was inevitable that the Bitcoin would drop.

It’s a different story with Bakkt’s bitcoin futures. According to the Bakkt Volume Bot, the exchange platform saw 1,741 BTC futures traded on Friday. At $15.5 million, it is the company’s biggest trading day so far.

The numbers have been verified by Bakkt, with the company later sharing the groundbreaking news via Twitter.

According to Bakkt’s official Twitter account, the company has set “a new daily trade record of 1,756 Bakkt Bitcoin Futures contracts traded.”

These places have been developing since investors began setting up long-term Bitcoin contracts. While the bitcoin slipped today, it has a minimal impact in the overall scheme of things as the crypto still rose by 130% since the year started.

Meanwhile, Skew Markets noted that open interest doubled to $2 million. According to reports, Skew Markets discovered that institutional longs traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) Bitcoin futures market generated about 1,300 BTC worth of contracts. It’s the highest its reached in one month, and is five times higher from the low 250 BTC in September.

Skew also indicated that institutions now retain net long 880 bitcoin contracts from last week’s 660 BTC. This could be attributed to the decline of short positions since institutions are probably gearing for an upward breakout.

There was also movement on the CME, with its futures market enjoying large volumes this month. Traders are looking to the CME for signs of BTC’s direction, with some arguing that the exchange’s track record when it comes to directional trade has always been stellar.

Meanwhile, one Bloomberg analyst believes BTC will remain at the $8,000 to $12,000 range until the end of 2019. The boost in institutional investment and the positive macroeconomic ecosystem has the potential to create an upside However, memories of the 2017 price surge selling could limit it.