According to reports, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and their bitcoin futures platform Bakkt are looking to surpass the bitcoin options contracts issued by CME Group. This suggests that they want to beat CME, which is considering launching Bitcoin options contracts in the first quarter of 2020.
Amsterdam-based Deribit has sold bitcoin options, but they have no credibility compared to ICE or CME. According to reports, BTC options will attract more institutional investors and improve the cryptocurrencys reputation in the financial world. On Oct. 10, CME Group announced that it was looking into Ethereum futures contracts after the CFTC chairman called Ethereum a “commodity.”
Speaking at Yahoo!s Financial Markets Summit, Mr. Tarbert said he strongly believes ethereum is not secure, and in his opening remarks he said he wanted the US to lead in blockchain technology. He said, We are very clear about bitcoin, bitcoin is a commodity. Until now, we havent talked about ethereum, but I think ether is a commodity in my capacity as CFTC chairman.
It now appears that this is the exchanges battle for a profitable options contract, so being first in the market could give the exchange a competitive advantage.
Bakkt improves after faltering
As of October 9, on ICE’s Bakkt platform, the trading volume of Bitcoin futures has surged to 224 contracts, an increase of 796% from the previous day. The 224 contracts represent a new all-time high for the platform, according to tracking data collected by the Twitter account Bakkt Volume Bot.
The figures come amid reassurance from investors, who were initially skeptical about the development of the Bakkt platform. As we’ve highlighted before, Bakkt’s Bitcoin futures had a disappointing first week after the platform saw a very lukewarm reaction from investors.
Daily volumes on Bakkt’s monthly bitcoin futures contracts surged from 25 to 224 over the course of the day, according to Bakkt Volume Bot. After the increase in trading volume, the BTC price rose from about $8,200 to $8,600.
According to Binance Research, Bakkt’s poor early performance caused Bitcoin’s price to quickly drop from nearly $10,000 to below $8,000.
Why Bakkt transaction volume increased rapidly?
This impressive performance may have something to do with the rise in the spot price of Bitcoin. On Oct. 9, BTC surged to a near 2-week high, moving major resistance to $8,500 in one of the largest single-day price gains in a month.
Ironically, the September crash was attributed to Bakkt’s poor trading volume. Marty Greenspan of eToros said at the time, The main impetus seems to be Bakkts staggering volume of Bitcoin debuting on Wall Street. Traders have been buying Bitcoin in large quantities for months, and it looks like theyve now sold.
It now appears that the roles have been reversed, with Bitcoin’s solid drive and Bakkt’s tailwinds. Whether things will continue as they are now, only time will tell. Currently, Bakkt’s performance appears to be heavily dependent on positive BTC market performance. Therefore, if Bitcoin fluctuates downwards, Bakkt may follow suit and dive.
CME Group interest slows
Meanwhile, Bakkt’s main competitor in Bitcoin futures, CVE Group, is showing dwindling interest, possibly due to BTC’s price drop, which CME Group can blame on Bakkt.
Before the launch of Bakkt, CME was growing exponentially. The day before BTC dropped below $8,000, CME recorded a monthly high of 14,340 contracts. Just one day later, volume dropped 42%, with only 8,181 contracts traded.
The original text comes from coinspeaker, compiled by the BluemountainLabs team, the English copyright belongs to the original author, please contact the editor for Chinese reprint.
The original text comes from coinspeaker, compiled by the BluemountainLabs team, the English copyright belongs to the original author, please contact the editor for Chinese reprint.
