Bakkt announces the launch of its Bitcoin Options contracts that shall be traded in the open market starting December 9, 2019.
It has become known that in less than 2 months, Bakkt will introduce its regulated options contract for Bitcoin futures by December 9, 2019. According to the blog post published by the company, for the launch of these BTC options, Bakkt will use its Monthly Bitcoin Futures contracts.
This will be a major milestone for Bakkt driving further the institutional participation in the crypto market. Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler made the announcement today. In a blog post, she wrote:
“We’re committed to bringing trust and utility to digital assets and the options contract is an example of the many products we’re developing for regulated markets. The Bakkt Bitcoin Options contract will be based on the benchmark Bakkt Monthly Bitcoin Futures contract and represents another important step in developing this asset class for institutional investors, their customers and investors”.
Loeffler also highlighted some of the key features of Bakkts Bitcoin Options Contracts which include Capital efficiency, Cash or Physical Settlement, Attractive Fees, European Style Option, Instant Messaging, Broad Distribution and Liquidity, Block Trades, and Options analytics.
The Bakkt CEO also said that they have self-certified the Bitcoin Options contracts with the CFTC. Besides, Bakkt will be leveraging its institutional-grade custody solution and benchmark futures prices to meet the requirements of a regulated options contract.
Bakkt has kept a complete fee waiver for the December options contracts trading. However, January 2020 onwards, it will introduce a fee of $1.25 per options contract traded.
Bakkt is Back in the Game After a Slow Start
Exactly, a month back on September 23, Bakkt launched its physically-settled Bitcoin futures contracts in the market. Initially, the Bitcoin futures contracts received a mild response from the market as it failed to stir the institutional momentum.
However, in the last two weeks, Bakkt has strongly caught the momentum as the volume for its Bitcoin Futures exploded by over 800%. It shows a clear surge in the demand for the Bakkt Bitcoin Futures in the crypto market.
In another latest report by Cointelegraph, Bakkt has attained another milestone with over 450 Bitcoin Futures contracts traded for November 2019 series.
Bakkt’s current market rival CME has been working on its options contract launch. CME recently said that there is a massive appetite among institutional players for the Bitcoin Futures contracts, and so there is also a simultaneous demand for the options contract. CME said that it will be launching its options contracts in Q1 2020.
Today’s Bakkt announcement of its Bitcoin options contracts offering comes as a major surprise. Moreover, its early launch in December 2019 might give Bakkt an early lead over CME in the options game.
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