Bitcoin April Rally Driven by Futures as Spot Demand Falls

Bitcoin's price surged approximately 20 percent in April, climbing from around $66,000 to a peak near $79,000, but analysts at CryptoQuant warned that the rally relied heavily on perpetual futures demand while spot market buying contracted, signaling potential vulnerability to a prolonged decline.

The cryptocurrency analytics firm reported that growth in futures trading activity propelled the price increase, with perpetual futures demand rising steadily. In contrast, spot demand, which reflects actual purchases of Bitcoin for immediate delivery, declined throughout the month. "The divergence between rising prices and contracting spot demand is one of the clearest onchain signals that price gains are speculative rather than structural," CryptoQuant stated in its analysis released late last week.

Bitcoin has since corrected to around $77,000, up about 2 percent over the past 24 hours as of recent trading. CryptoQuant noted that this pullback aligns with patterns seen in prior futures-led rallies lacking spot support. The firm drew parallels to early 2022, when a similar setup of surging futures demand and weakening spot activity preceded a sustained bear market downturn.