Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has launched its Bitcoin futures commodities through its Bakkt venture, which could have a “significant” impact on the Bitcoin price today according to one cryptocurrency expert.
Bakkt Daily and Bakkt Monthly started trading on the ICE Futures US market yesterday evening, becoming the first physically delivered cryptocurrency contract to be traded on a federally regulated exchange.
Future contracts see the buyer and seller agree to trade a commodity at a particular time for a particular price, regardless of price movements in the time before the transaction expires. Essentially, future contracts allow investors to bet on whether the price of the commodity will rise or fall over a certain period of time.
It is hoped that Bakkt will help to reduce hesitancy among investors and businesses to accept cryptocurrencies by improving regulation, increasing transparency and reducing volatility.
The first Bakkt trade occurred yesterday evening, setting the price at $10,115, in line with the Bitcoin price at the time.
Bakkt launch: Bitcoin price falls, but it should bounce back again
The Bitcoin price dipped below $9,900 in the hours after the Bakkt launch, but according to Simon Peters, an analyst for investment platform eToro, many in the community feel that the price could swing back up, as suggested by typical price movements in the Bitcoin market.
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By GlobalData“Since reaching $14,000 back in June, bitcoin has been making ‘lower highs’ and ‘higher lows’, forming a ‘symmetrical triangle’ chart pattern converging towards an apex. Typically with these chart patterns, price is squeezed into a tight range over time with volumes decreasing, and we tend to see major breakouts in price at the apex or very close to it,” Peters explained.
“The apex of bitcoin’s current symmetrical triangle formation coincides with today’s launch of Bakkt.
“This has led many in the community to believe we will see a significant price movement once Bakkt launches, as institutional investors will now able to trade physical bitcoin through a regulator-approved exchange.”
Although, others feel that the Bakkt launch may have already been played its part in recent price movements, and there is also some potential for its launch to send the Bitcoin price falling further.
“We may see some early speculators who bought bitcoin in anticipation of the Bakkt release deciding to cash out their profits, following the popular ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ maxim,” Peters said.
If a large number of investors do decide to sell, the market will undoubtedly respond.
However, according to Peters, it doesn’t really matter what way the Bitcoin price moves as a result of the Bakkt launch. Rather than adding to the volatility of the market, Bakkt serves to provide some stability.
According to Peters, the market will serve as a “transparent price discovery mechanism” that will help to establish a “benchmark price” going forward, which should help to end Bitcoin’s wild swings. In turn, this will help to attract more investors, which should have a positive impact on the Bitcoin price moving forward.
Read more: Bitcoin price bounce shows $10,000 is cryptocurrency’s new bottom
