Bitcoin demand drops to its lowest level this year

Current apparent demand for Bitcoin falls to a new low in 2026, with a 30-day total approaching -147k BTC, continuing the trend of persistent weak spot demand since the second half of last year.
Analyst Darkfost pointed out that a rebound driven solely by the futures market is unlikely to be sustainable.
This extreme negative value last appeared in December 2025, when the market structure was similar to that before the 2022 crash.
Since then, although ETF inflows briefly rebounded in March, spot trading volume has remained low, with upward supply pressure unresolved, and the market has long been in a "strong supply, weak demand" pattern.
The key detail is that apparent demand is calculated by subtracting the supply of BTC that has not moved for over a year from newly issued BTC.
A negative value indicates that long-term holders are accelerating their sell-off, or that new inflows of capital are far insufficient to absorb the supply.
This aligns with recent signals of slowed ETF inflows and a lack of institutional buying, indicating that the current spot market absorption at this price level is unusually fragile.
On May 25, according to analyst Darkfost, the current apparent demand for Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level in 2026, with a 30-day total approaching -147,000 BTC, a similar extreme value last seen in December 2025.
Darkfost pointed out that this data suggests Bitcoin spot demand continues to shrink gradually, and a rebound driven solely by the futures market is unlikely to be sustainable.
Apparent demand is calculated by subtracting the supply of BTC that has not moved for over a year from newly issued BTC. $BTC
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