Recent underlying buying activity in the bitcoin market is pushing prices up, with traders willing to pay a premium for buying bitcoin in the future, suggesting they expect the price to rise, analysts say.

"We see fundamental orderflow driving the market higher, with the bitcoin three-month annualized basis having shot above 10% over the weekend, and perpetual funding rates are on the rise, showing that the market is building positive sentiment," Zerocap analysts said in a Monday markets report. 

The Zerocap report's observations align with those from Velo Data charts, which show that since last Wednesday's release of softer U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for April, bitcoin’s basis rate has increased, now sitting in the 9-12% range.

The bitcoin three-month annualized basis, …