Bitcoin futures contracts on both Bakkt—the blockchain trading platform run by the Intercontinental Exchange—and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange yesterday reached monthly highs. For Bakkt—it was the greatest volume it's ever seen.
BakktBot, a Twitter bot that tracks the Bakkt Bitcoin futures contracts market, found that an all-time daily high of 2,728 contracts worth $20.3 million, had been traded on the exchange.
This marked a 66 percent increase compared to the previous day, Thursday, when 12.4 million contracts were traded. Bakkt’s previous all-time high was 1,756 contracts on November 8, worth around $15.5 million at the time.
On the Mercantile Exchange, meanwhile, preliminary data for Friday shows that 11,537 Bitcoin futures contracts were traded. On Thursday, 6,360 were traded, meaning trading on Friday increased by 81.3%.
The surge in the number of contracts is strongly correlated with Bitcoin’s falling price. In fact, Friday marked the worst of several days of price drops for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s price dropped below $7,000 yesterday, and has since recovered to around $7,200, according to price data site CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin’s value hasn’t sunk to these prices since May, when Bitcoin was trading for around $3,500 before its bull run.
Despite the correlation, Charles Phan, CTO of crypto-derivatives exchange Interdax told Decrypt this week that he’s not convinced futures contract platforms like Bakkt determine the market—it’s probably the other way around.
“Bakkt’s growing liquidity is a positive sign but it is still a far-flung dream before it becomes a venue that dictates Bitcoin’s price action or has a significant influence on it,” he said.