Clearly, the launch of Bakkt futures hasn’t been a success as the crypto market collapsed and the initial trading volume was disappointing, however, no one expected this volume to be lower, especially 79% lower.
On the first day of trading, Bakkt had 149 traded contracts and only 72 Bitcoin in volume (around $700,000). This was a big let down for everyone, especially when it’s compared to the first week of CME Bitcoin futures, which had around $460 million in volume, the first week of Bakkt has raked around $5.8 million, 79 times lower than CME.
Tons of cryptocurrency users are showing their displeasure and disappointment towards Bakkt on social media while others insist the volume will eventually pick up and that Bakkt is a good thing ‘long-term wise’.
Even Binance has criticized Bakkt in their new ‘market overview’ research where they point out to Bakkt as the main reason for the recent crypto market flash crash. JPMorgan also said Bakkt has been an important factor in the decline of Bitcoin and the rest of the market but insists that it will benefit Bitcoin in the future.
Was Bakkt overhyped or is it because institutional investors are simply not that interested in Bitcoin? Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts were claiming that Bakkt was the gateway for ‘institutional investors’ and big players to jump into Bitcoin, however, the lack of volume indicates the contrary.
We can learn some valuable lessons from Bakkt’s flunked launch. Investors might not only be not interested but in fact, scared of Bitcoin and its volatility. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) can be extremely dangerous as it seems the recent market crash is simply another case of ‘buy the rumors, sell the news’.
This isn’t necessarily too concerning yet as most investors still expect an increase in trading volume. The next few months will be crucial for Bakkt, if they can attract more investors and perhaps even make some CME customers switch to Bakkt, the future won’t be as catastrophic as everyone is saying.
