If it's bitcoin-settled then the price must go up. I have lost track of what Bakkt will actually deliver at least on the initial phases. From what I've heard the platform will deliver bitcoin-settled contracts, this means that his is not some phantom derivatives bullshit in which no bitcoins are being traded, so it must have an impact on the market one way or another.
We'll have to wait and see. Any instant changes on the market will just be speculation on the news unless some big players have moves already planned for launch day but someone needs to confirm that actual BTC is used to settle contracts.
Yeah, it is going to be bitcoin settled and that is what makes it different from other futures contract. Nonetheless, the impact it would really have on the market generally is something I am still trying to wrap my head around and like you said, I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Nonetheless, we have always known the practices of the Wall street and some of their shenanigans, so in this case, I really would not want to be so optimistic with whatever comes out with Bakkt, until I get to see it happen. Bull run though is something I hardly believe will be happening anytime soon, with or without Bakkt.
The theoretical impact is increased demand. Retirement and 401k and pension fund moneys will have more access, as institutions use Bakkt for trading. Purchases should outpace sales for sometime as things ramp up, and those purchases bitcoins will be held in custody by Bakkt. Most likely supply will come OTC, but regardless if it comes OTC or from Coinbase/Gemini exchanges, it will be a part of the overall supply/demand economics and have some positive influence over price.
How much positive influence? Impossible to know.
Its similar to halving. We can look at historical charts and see correlation to price moves 6-18 months after halving. But since its impossible to know the tipping point between daily bid/asks averages, we can really only speculate based on hindsight 20/20 data.
Any run up into Dec. 7th, will be simply rumor/news influence and will be sold off to a degree. Perhaps we can look back 6-8 months from now and have a better sense of the real affect of Bakkt.