Bakkt Trades 18 BTC in First 7 Hours as Bitcoin Price Falls Below $10K

18 Bitcoin (BTC) in volume has been traded since the launch of Bitcoin futures on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)’s Bakkt platform yesterday, Sept. 22. The much-anticipated contracts — the first of their kind to be physically settled in Bitcoin.

As of the most recently available data at the time of writing, 18 BTC has been traded, with a last recorded trading price of $10, 042.50/BTC. Many crypto commentators have commented on the apparently slight volume levels, with one trader comparing the platform’s launch so far to patterns typically seen with earlier products: “CME bitcoin futures traded $460 million on its first week. Current volume is around $700 million. The Van Eck fake ETF traded $0 on its first week.”

Despite long anticipation of the new contracts’ launch, the markets have yet to register any impact, with Bitcoin trading tepidly below $10,000 as of press time. When it comes to the fiat-settled Bitcoin futures contracts on CME, their expiration and rollover dates have historically exerted pressure on Bitcoin markets — traders will no doubt be closely eyeing signs of potential impact from Bakkt’s product in the coming days.  Taking a wider view, Fundstrat analyst and well-known Bitcoin bull Tom Lee had tweeted on Sept. 20 that he was “very positive on Bakkt and its ability to improve trust with institutions to crypto.”