Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading on the Intercontinental Exchange Bakkt platform is seeing a considerable rise in average daily volume so far this month compared to September and most of October.
Volumes yesterday, Nov. 5, hit close to their all-time-high — with 1061 traded contracts worth $10 million, a 96% increase over the previous day.
According to tracking data compiled by Twitter account Bakkt Volume Bot (@BakktBot) — which is not affiliated with Bakkt but rather with a Dutch journalist and crypto author Gert-Jan Lasterie — the platform had posted its all-time-high for traded contracts on Oct. 25.
November on course to smash October volumes
At the current pace, Bakkt should trade over $200 million in BTC futures contracts in November.
Bakkt Volume Bot’s data reveals that as of late October, Bitcoin futures trading has been significantly and consistently higher than during the first month of the platform’s launch.
Source: @BakktBot
BTC/USD chart, Oct. 23-Nov. 6 2019. Source: Coin360
When compared to data on the Bitcoin spot markets, this strong uptick in Bakkt volume appears to correspond to a period of volatility kicking off — with Bitcoin falling below $7,500 and rapidly soaring to over $10,400 in late October, before settling closer to the $9,300 range in recent days.
Catch-up
Notwithstanding the more robust volume posted on Bakkt, volumes are still a considerable way off from the almost $970 million in daily traded volume currently on the Binance Futures platform.
As previously reported, Bakkt’s much-anticipated contracts — the first of their kind to be physically settled in Bitcoin — went live on Sept. 22.
The platform’s underwhelming volumes in its first week were immediately unfavorably compared to the fiat-settled BTC futures on CME, which first launched back in December 2017.