Bitcoin Market Report: Bakkt Bitcoin Futures Announcement Revives Institutional Interest In the Market

Bitcoin ends the second week of August around $10,000 levels. Bakkt prepares for Bitcoin Futures launch on September 23 after the NYDFS approval. 

After gathering some steam early in the month, Bitcoin has been majorly on a correction and is currently trading close to its crucial support of $10,000. 

In the last week, Bitcoin has lost nearly 9% of its price dropping from $11,400 levels to now at $10,400 levels. If we look at the BTC price chart, we can see that the fall early in the week was sharp as Bitcoin slipped below $10,000 last Thursday, August 15. 

 

But later, it recovered a 4.5-5% from the Thursday low to trade close to $10,400 levels. At press time, Bitcoin is trading at a price of $10,395 with a market cap of $181.7 billion and average daily trading volumes moving past $13.46 billion. 

 

However, despite the falling Bitcoin prices, the support for Bitcoin is growing globally. Moreover, with some unrest in the global economy. Bitcoin continues to grab more attention from global investors. 

 

Top Recent Bitcoin News

 

• The ongoing freedom protests in Hong Kong have taken a new tall. To protest against China’s overreach in Hong Kong, the local protestors started withdrawing massive cash from ATMs while converting them into USD.
  
  The organisers of this event said that this step is a measure to protect the people’s wealth citing fears of devaluation of the Hong Kong Dollar. Experts from the industry believe that the rising tensions and such an act could see more money flowing in the crypto market, especially Bitcoin.
  

 

BREAKING: Hong Kong activists are calling for a run on Chinese banks tomorrow, asking that everyone withdraw their money on the same day.

One of the best ways to peacefully protest, the next step is buying bitcoin!

— Rhythm (@Rhythmtrader) August 15, 2019

 

• Last week, the New Zealand Tax Authority legalized salary and income payments in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. However, only salaried class and wage workers can receive their incomes in cryptocurrencies, and not self-employed tax payers.
  
  The tax authorities have added that only those cryptocurrencies will be legally accepted which can be easily converted to fiat. Additionally, the salary received in crypto denominations shall be taxable.
  

 

New Zealand has become the first country to legalize bitcoin as a replacement for the country's sovereign currency on worker's paychecks.

Retweet this tweet so every nation state sees what is possible when you embrace innovation 🙏🏽

— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) August 13, 2019

 

• Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE’s) Bakkt platform recently got an approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) regulator to launch its physically settle Bitcoin Futures contracts.
  
  Bakkt CEO Kelly Loefler said: “This offers customers unprecedented regulatory clarity and security alongside a regulated, globally accessible exchange in a market underserved by institutional-grade infrastructure. Our contracts have already received the green light from the CFTC through the self-certification process and user acceptance testing has begun.”
  
  Bakkt has also confirmed that it will launch its Bitcoin Futures contract next month on September 23.
  

 

The @Bakkt news is arguably the most bullish event for institutional investors in the history of bitcoin. PHYSICALLY delivered futures (require the holder to either produce actual bitcoin or take delivery from the exchange) backed by the New York Stock Exchange. We are maturing.

— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) August 16, 2019

 

• Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently tweeted that 2019 has seen a massive uptick in Bitcoin and crypto investments. According to Armstrong, the market saw $200-400 Million deposits a week coming from institutional players.
  

 

Whether institutions were going to adopt crypto or not was an open question about 12 months ago. I think it's safe to say we now know the answer. We're seeing $200-400M a week in new crypto deposits come in from institutional customers.

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 16, 2019

 

Bitcoin Market Review Using Omenics’ Sentscore

 

The Omenics’ Sentscore shows a significant drop in the market sentiment along with the drop in BTC price.

 

 

The Sentscore indicator has dropped from the “positive” region to now into the “neutral” zone.

The Sentscore news indicator also remained volatile throughout the week but remained in the “neutral” by the end of the week.

The social indicator has also seen a drop but remains in the “neutral” zone between 4-6.

 

With some spike early in the week, the buzz indicator crashed into “less content than usual” zone. 

 

With the Bitcoin price crashing, the technical indicator has dropped two levels from the “bullish” to the “bearish” zone.