BTC spot demand remains weak as futures dominate market, analyst says

The Bitcoin market is seeing an unusually high share of futures trading relative to spot volume, CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said, indicating prices are currently being driven largely by derivatives activity rather than spot demand. Darkfost said the ratio on Binance stands at about 0.12, implying nearly 90% of the market is being driven by futures trading. In other words, for every $1 invested in spot, roughly $9 is flowing into futures, marking a significant gap. At the same time, open interest is falling. Binance open interest declined over the past week to $9.2 billion from $10.6 billion, but the ratio has not improved because spot demand remains weak, Darkfost said. Darkfost added bull markets often begin with a recovery in speculative demand, with speculative capital entering first to ignite an upswing and spot demand later helping sustain the rally. For now, however, spot demand is still lacking, and if it does not follow, the current rebound, led mainly by the futures market, could quickly become unstable.