BTC rally past $80K driven by leverage, not US spot buying, says CryptoQuant

Bitcoin's recent surge past $80,000 was driven by leveraged futures trading rather than U.S. spot buying pressure, according to a CryptoQuant analysis reported by CoinDesk. CryptoQuant noted that the Coinbase Premium, an indicator of U.S. investor demand, has remained consistently negative since the end of April. This suggests that BTC is trading at higher prices on overseas exchanges than on Coinbase, signaling relatively weak spot buying from U.S. institutional investors. In contrast, significant demand has emerged from the perpetual futures market. The firm warned that a futures-driven rally may be less sustainable than one backed by spot purchases. If the current upward trend slows, the key support level is likely to be around $70,000, which corresponds to the on-chain realized price for short-term investors.