Bitcoin’s arduous cap is straightforward to know: there’ll solely ever be 21 million cash.
What’s arduous to know is that the marginal market is allowed to commerce way over 21 million cash value of publicity, as a result of most of that publicity is artificial and cash-settled, and it may be created or decreased in seconds.
That distinction has turn into Bitcoin’s core paradox previously yr or so.
Shortage is a property of the asset, whereas value is a property of the market microstructure that dominates the following aggressive order. When derivatives quantity and leveraged positioning turn into the dominant area, Bitcoin can commerce like an asset with a decent provide and, on the similar time, like an asset with successfully elastic publicity.
21 million cash, however a a lot bigger marginal market
Spot is the one venue the place a commerce essentially strikes precise BTC from one proprietor to a different.
Perpetual and dated futures do not mint cash, however they do create a second market that may turn into bigger, quicker, and extra reflexive than spot. Perps are designed to trace spot by a funding mechanism and could be traded with leverage, which implies a comparatively small quantity of collateral can management a a lot bigger notional place. That mixture tends to drag exercise into derivatives when merchants need pace, leverage, shorting potential, and capital effectivity.
Value discovery is just the place the following significant market order lands. If most urgency lives in perps, then the trail of least resistance is ready there, even when long-term holders by no means contact leverage and even when the underlying provide is fastened. In that regime, strikes are incessantly pushed by adjustments in positioning: liquidations, pressured de-risking, hedging flows, and the speedy repricing of leverage. These flows can overwhelm the a lot slower means of spot accumulation, as a result of the marginal actor is not selecting whether or not to purchase cash however whether or not so as to add or cut back publicity.
That is additionally why seen order guide help is a weaker idea than it appears on a chart. Displayed bids could be actual, however they’re conditional. They are often pulled, layered, refreshed, or just outpaced by the amount coming from the bigger derivatives advanced. Order books are data of resting intent, not execution ensures.
What the info exhibits
The Binance BTC/USDT perpetual futures versus spot quantity ratio is the cleanest start line as a result of it quantifies the place exercise is concentrated.
On Feb. 3, the perpetual-to-spot quantity ratio learn 7.87, with $23.51 billion in perpetual quantity towards $2.99 billion in spot whereas BTC traded round $75,770. On Feb. 5, the ratio was nonetheless 6.12, with $15.97 billion in perps quantity towards $2.61 billion in spot, and the value close to $69,700.
The ratios matter as a result of they don’t seem to be a minor skew; they describe a market the place the dominant supply of turnover is a leveraged, shortable venue. In that setup, the following tick is extra more likely to be set by the repricing of publicity than by incremental spot shopping for.
The aggregated order guide liquidity delta provides a second layer: not simply the place quantity traded, however the place liquidity amassed close to value. CoinGlass defines depth delta because the imbalance between bids and asks inside a specified vary, right here ±1% across the present value, which is a approach to summarize whether or not the seen guide is bid-heavy or offer-heavy.
The most important footprint seems on the derivatives aspect proper because the market was getting into the drawdown window. Futures liquidity delta printed +$297.75 million on Jan. 31 at 14:00 with BTC round $82,767. Spot later confirmed +$95.32 million at 18:00 round $78,893. Even by Feb. 5 at 14:00, spot delta nonetheless confirmed +$36.66 million with BTC close to $69,486.
This knowledge exhibits a market the place spot bids existed and, in some moments, grew, however value nonetheless saved sliding. When you settle for the hierarchy the place derivatives are the dominant class, this stops being a contradiction. Displayed liquidity close to spot can enhance whereas the bigger derivatives venue continues to power repricing by leverage discount, quick stress, or hedging. When perps dominate turnover, the marginal vendor is not an actual person who’s misplaced conviction, it is only a supervisor managing positions.
Now add the third channel that traders are inclined to deal with because the definitive spot proxy: US spot Bitcoin ETFs. The circulation sequence we have seen in final week appears like a tug-of-war slightly than a steering wheel aimed on the cliff.
Heavy outflows hit on Jan. 21 at about -$708.7 million, then Jan. 29 at about -$817.8 million, then Jan. 30 at about -$509.7 million. Feb. 2 flipped sharply optimistic at about +$561.8 million, then reverted to -$272.0 million on Feb. 3 and -$544.9 million on Feb. 4.
Public circulation tallies like these are broadly tracked by aggregators equivalent to Farside and are incessantly referenced in market protection, however they fail map one-for-one to intraday value when the derivatives venue is setting the marginal commerce.
It is also value being exact about what an ETF circulation is and isn’t. Creations and redemptions are executed by approved members. Relying on the product and regulatory permissions, these processes could be cash-based or in-kind, which adjustments how straight ETF exercise interprets into spot market transactions in BTC.
In mid-2025, the SEC authorized orders allowing in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto ETPs, which is particularly about permitting approved members to create or redeem shares utilizing the underlying crypto slightly than solely money, bringing the operational construction nearer to different commodity ETPs. (SEC) Even with that construction, ETF flows nonetheless sit alongside derivatives positioning, vendor hedging, and trade liquidity, which may dominate short-horizon value formation.
Lastly, trade reserve knowledge anchors this summary knowledge into one thing extra tangible: the quantity of BTC sitting on exchanges, which is a proxy for instantly tradable stock.
From Jan. 15 to Feb. 5, all-exchange BTC reserves rose by 29,048 BTC, a 1.067% enhance, reaching simply over 2.75 million BTC.
This issues as a result of it separates two concepts which might be typically blended collectively.
Bitcoin could be scarce in whole provide and nonetheless really feel properly equipped on the level of transaction if trade stock rises right into a risk-off window. ETF inflows could be optimistic and but the tradable float can broaden by way of deposits, treasury strikes, or repositioning by giant holders. And even when the tradable float tightens, derivatives can nonetheless amplify volatility as a result of publicity could be added or eliminated quicker than cash can transfer.
A shortage mannequin that matches how Bitcoin trades
A helpful approach to reconcile all of that is to deal with Bitcoin shortage as a stack of time horizons slightly than a single quantity.
On the slowest layer is protocol provide, which is fastened by design. That is the layer the 21 million cap describes.
On the center layer is the tradable float, which is what can realistically hit the market with out friction. Alternate reserves aren’t the most effective proxy for this, however they’re directionally helpful as a result of they measure cash which might be already sitting on a platform constructed for speedy transaction.
On the quick layer is the artificial publicity: perps, dated futures, and choices. This layer can broaden or contract extraordinarily shortly as a result of it is constrained by collateral and danger limits, not by coin motion. When exercise concentrates right here, a big share of the market is expressing views by leverage and hedges, not by coin acquisition.
On the closing layer is the marginal commerce itself: the following pressured purchase or promote that clears by probably the most lively venue. The perpetual-to-spot quantity ratios which were sitting between roughly 6 and eight, mixed with the bigger liquidity delta prints on futures, present a market the place that marginal commerce was taking place in derivatives, not in spot.
That framing tells us that shortage is actual, nevertheless it does not assure day-to-day tightness. The market can commerce scarce belongings by plentiful publicity, and the venue with probably the most pressing circulation tends to set the following value.
That is why we have to deal with ETF flows, trade reserves, and derivatives dominance as three separate lenses that may disagree within the quick run. After they line up, strikes are usually cleaner. After they diverge, you possibly can see precisely what the charts present: bids seem, narratives whip round, and value nonetheless bleeds as a result of the marginal market is elsewhere.
