Bitcoin entered the weekend hovering near $71,000, well off the previous week’s spike above $74,000, but far below the highs it touched at the beginning of the year. On price alone, the market looks pretty composed.
However, underneath, its structure looks much less comfortable.
Data shows spot activity fading while derivatives keep doing more of the work. Almost every day this month saw derivatives trading at roughly nine times the spot volume, and that’s not the profile of a market pushed forward by spot demand. What we’re seeing now is a market propped up almost exclusively by leverage.
Chart showing the aggregated trading volume for spot Bitcoin and Bitcoin derivatives across exchanges from Jan. 1 to March 13, 2026 (Source: CryptoQuant)
Related Reading
Bitcoin options just overtook futures for the first time, and the new way institutions hedge is trapping retail leverage
Options just became Bitcoin’s largest derivatives position.
We współpracy z: https://cryptoslate.com/bitcoins-71k-rally-has-a-problem-most-traders-arent-watching/
