Bakkt Bitcoin Futures Daily Trading Volume Hits Record High

Trading volume in physically delivered bitcoin futures listed on Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt platform surged to record highs on Tuesday.

• The derivatives exchange traded record 15,955 contracts, worth more than $200 million. That's up 36% more than the previous lifetime high of 11,706 contracts on July 28, 2020.
• Daily volumes have increased by more than 1,000% on a year-to-date basis, according to data source Skew.
• Physically settled futures require bitcoin to be delivered on the specified delivery date rather than being traded out with offsetting contracts. 
• "Since we first launched Bakkt nearly a year ago, we've remained committed to expanding trust in and unlocking the value of digital assets," said Adam White, president of Bakkt, said in a press release.
• Bakkt still lags the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which registered a volume of $262 billion on Tuesday and a record daily volume of $1.2 billion in August.
• As of Sept. 15, Bakkt accounted for just 1.6% of the global futures trading volume of $12 billion.
• Binance traded $2.8 billion worth of futures contracts and was the largest exchange by trading volume.
• "While Bakkt registered one of its highest volume days in physically settled futures [Tuesday], that was still about 30% less than CME futures, which ironically was on the lower end of year-to-date volumes," Vishal Shah, an options trader and founder of derivatives exchange Alpha5, told CoinDesk.