Bitcoin Tests $87K as Leverage Runs Ahead of Spot Demand

• Bitcoin has moved above $87,000, retesting the late-September high with the 14-day RSI now above 70.
• BTC open interest surged 9.12% to $29.2 billion, showing derivatives exposure is expanding considerably faster than price.
• Short liquidations helped accelerate the move, accounting for most of the $359.27 million liquidated across crypto over 24 hours.
• Onchain demand is recovering, but the negative Coinbase Premium shows U.S. spot buying still trails the strength visible in price.

Bitcoin has broken above $87,000, but the rally is arriving at its next test with a notable imbalance: leverage is expanding faster than the underlying spot-demand indicators.

At the time of writing BTC trades at $87,052.64. That puts the leading cryptocurrency back at the late-September high following a rapid recovery from the consolidation around $84,000.

The move has several sources of support. Onchain demand has improved sharply from its September low, institutional fund flows have begun recovering, and bearish derivatives positions have been forced out as BTC climbed.

Yet U.S. spot demand remains less convincing. The Coinbase Premium is still negative, even as open interest jumps by more than 9% in a day.

The harder question is whether spot buyers can support the move once the short squeeze fades.

U.S. Demand Is Sending Mixed Signals

The latest ETF and exchange data do not point in exactly the same direction.

Recent reporting from FarSide Investors put U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows at $102.7 million on Oct. 1, following the previous session’s outflows.

That caveat matters more than squeezing another bullish signal out of a single day’s ETF number.

The broader U.S. spot market remains weaker.

CryptoQuant’s Coinbase Premium Index measures the relative BTC price on Coinbase against Binance. A negative reading means Bitcoin is cheaper on Coinbase, pointing to weaker U.S.-side buying pressure relative to offshore markets.

CryptoQuant separately reported that the indicator remained negative for 26 consecutive days through Sept. 30, even as Bitcoin exchange outflows reduced immediately available supply. CryptoQuant

ETF demand can improve without immediately producing a positive Coinbase Premium because the two measures capture different parts of the market. But if Bitcoin is to turn the latest breakout into a broader spot-led advance, a recovery in U.S. exchange pricing would strengthen the case considerably.

Bitcoin Demand Has Recovered 81,000 BTC in a Week

The onchain picture is moving in the right direction.

Bitcoin’s 30-day apparent-demand growth improved from approximately -182,000 BTC on Sept. 24 to -101,000 BTC on Oct. 1, according to the CryptoQuant data.

That is an improvement of roughly 81,000 BTC in seven days.

The important detail is the minus sign. Demand is no longer contracting as quickly as it was in late September, but the measure has not yet crossed into positive territory.

This gives the current rally a different backdrop from outright accumulation. Price has already returned above $87,000 while the underlying demand measure is still climbing out of contraction.

If apparent demand moves above zero, the data would begin showing net expansion alongside higher prices. Until then, the recovery in demand is real, but incomplete.

Open Interest Surges as Bitcoin Clears $87K

Derivatives traders have moved much faster.

At the time of writin, total Bitcoin open interest on Coinanalyze reached $29.2 billion, rising 9.12% over 24 hours. Perpetual contracts dominate that exposure at $28.3 billion, compared with roughly $970.2 million in conventional futures.

The exchange breakdown shows the largest positions concentrated on:

• Binance: $11.9 billion
• Bybit: $5.9 billion
• Hyperliquid: $3.3 billion
• OKX: $3.2 billion
• Huobi: $2.1 billion
• Deribit: $1.7 billion
• Bitfinex: $781.3 million
• Kraken: $209.3 million
• Coinbase: $86.6 million

That 9.12% increase is considerably larger than Bitcoin’s percentage price gain over the same period.

Price and open interest rising together show that new derivatives exposure is entering the market as BTC advances. Open interest itself cannot reveal whether that exposure is predominantly long or short, but it does tell us that the amount of leveraged capital sensitive to the next price move has increased quickly.

That becomes more important above $87,000, where Bitcoin is no longer simply recovering inside its previous range.

Short Sellers Already Paid for the Breakout

The liquidation data from Coinglass show how Bitcoin accelerated through the upper end of that range.

Across crypto, $359.27 million in leveraged positions were liquidated over 24 hours.

The imbalance was substantial:

• Short liquidations: $274.64 million
• Long liquidations: $84.63 million
• Bitcoin liquidations: $153.91 million
• Ethereum liquidations: $73.99 million
• Largest single liquidation: $11.72 million BTCUSDT position on Binance

Shorts accounted for roughly 76% of total liquidations.

As BTC rose, exchanges were forced to close losing short positions, adding market buying into an already advancing price. That provides a straightforward explanation for part of the acceleration through $87,000 without requiring the entire move to come from new spot buyers.

There is also a limit to that source of momentum. A liquidated short cannot be liquidated twice.

Once the forced buying subsides, continued upside increasingly depends on new capital entering the market. That is why the apparent-demand and Coinbase data become more relevant after the breakout than they were during the squeeze itself.

Bitcoin Is Above $87K With RSI Entering Overbought Territory

The daily chart now shows BTC trading above $87,000 rather than approaching it.

Bitcoin opened the Oct. 2 session at $84,824.05, traded as high as $87,173.15 and stood at $87,052.64 when the chart was captured.

The $87,000-$87,200 area is therefore better treated as an active breakout zone. Holding above it would turn the former resistance area into a potential base for another attempt higher, with $88,000 the next nearby level visible on the chart.

A return below $87,000 would make the breakout less convincing and put attention back on the previous consolidation. The $84,000-$84,500 area is the more substantial support zone below, where buyers stepped in before the latest advance.

Momentum is already elevated.

The 14-day RSI has reached 70.09, just above the conventional 70 overbought threshold. That does not make a reversal automatic. Bitcoin can remain overbought while trending higher, but the reading shows that the breakout is occurring after a strong momentum expansion.

MACD has also turned positive again, although only narrowly. The MACD line stands at 2,195.74 against a signal line of 2,174.40, producing a positive histogram reading of 21.34 after momentum weakened during the preceding consolidation.

The next phase therefore has a higher bar than simply printing another green candle. BTC is already above $87,000, shorts have absorbed a sizable liquidation wave and derivatives exposure has expanded sharply.

What has not yet followed is the U.S. spot signal. If the Coinbase Premium turns positive while apparent demand crosses above zero, the composition of the rally would begin shifting toward broader spot participation. If those measures remain weak while open interest keeps climbing, leverage will account for an increasingly large share of the risk behind Bitcoin’s breakout.