The Bakkt exchange platform was off to a slow start, only trading 71 Bitcoin (BTC) futures contracts during its Sept. 22 launch day.

The company’s historical data on BTC/USD futures contracts showed that Bakkt had traded 71 BTC as of press time. The platform’s last recorded trading price settled at $9,875 per BTC.

Bakkt was officially launched at 12:00 UTC and secured its first futures contract amounting to $10,115 after a few minutes. The platform closed five contracts in the first hour. By the time the 10th hour rolled along, Bakkt had traded 28 contracts with only one holding at sub -$10,000. Reports say these were for monthly BTC contracts.

However, daily BTC contracts moved slower than expected, which surprised a lot of people who were expecting a higher volume.

Margin Limits Could Be Reason for Tepid Reception

Professional trader Rakesh Upadhyay explained to Cointelegraph that the seemingly apathetic welcome the new platform received was probably due to Bitcoin’s price range has been bound recently. This has made traders less enthusiastic about initiating positions.

Before Bakkt was launched, ICE decided on interim margin requirements for BTC/USD contracts. The primary hedge condition for daily and monthly contracts was pegged at $3,900. Meanwhile, the speculative primary condition for both types of contracts was set at $4,290.

Add-ons for daily and monthly futures contracts range anywhere from $400 to $1,000 for hedge rates and around $440 to $1,100 for speculative rates.

ICE decided to establish Bakkt in order to have an integrated platform that allowed consumers, institutional clients, and merchants to purchase, store, spend, and sell digital assets on a consistent global network.

The platform’s CEO Kelly Loeffler said after Bakkt’s launch that it provides a regulated and reliable infrastructure while lobbying for the acceptance of new technology and financial tools powered by digital currency.

Diverse Reactions to the Launch

The launch of the Bakkt platform was highly anticipated and generated a mixed bag of reactions. Thomas Lee of Funstrat Global Advisors claimed that Bakktwill improves the reputation of Bitcoin and other currencies. Lee said that he has a very positive view of Bakkt and its capability to improve institutions’ trust in cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, Anthony Pompliano, a co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, stated that the more infrastructure is built around crypto, the more it’s likely to never go away. The American investor also said that the industry is at a “tipping point” where BTC will become a regular fixture and will likely end up being included in the portfolio of every institutional investor.

