Bakkt Releases Margin Details For Futures Contracts

Bakkt, the futures platform backed by NYSE owner ICE, has released margin details for its daily and monthly contracts. The contracts begin trading on Sep. 23.

Investors hedging its daily and monthly futures for hedging are required to put up a margin deposit of $3,900 while those using its futures products to speculate on the cryptocurrency’s price movement are required to deposit $4,290 before they are allowed to trade. The inter-month add ons, or the amount that futures traders must pony up on a monthly basis to conduct trades, also vary based on the trader activity.

The add ons for hedging are between $400 and $1,000 and the add ons for speculation are between $440 and $1,100. These margin levels are not set in stone. The exchange had stated earlier that the levels depend on market conditions, meaning that it may increase or decrease margin levels.

The margin levels required by Bakkt are comparable to those for futures contracts traded at CME. CME Bitcoin futures contracts have a 37% maintenance margin. In an FAQ published last month, Bakkt had indicated that margin amounts would be approximately 37 percent of the total amount.

Hedgers at CME are required to deposit 100% of the maintenance margin amount to continue trading and speculators should deposit 110% of the amount. However, a key difference between CME and Bakkt is that the latter are physically-settled while the former is cash-settled. Bakkt announced the opening of its custody warehouse operations last earlier this week.

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