Bitcoin price today sustains above $103k. Can lower market volatility induce further upmove? Here's what experts say

Bitcoin price today: The world's biggest cryptocurrency gained over 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, May 14, and held steady above the $103,000 level for a second straight day, data on CoinMarketCap showed.
Bitcoin was trading at $103,495.57 at 9.30 am today, up 1.57 per cent over the previous day, with the market capitalisation of the world's largest crypto token at $2.05 trillion. The trading volume for Bitcoin soared 20.52 per cent to $50.16 billion (up over the past 24 hours), data showed.
According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin's dominance in the overall crypto market is at 61.2 per cent. This represents the percentage of Bitcoin's total market cap compared to the total market cap of all other tokens combined.
Edul Patel, Co-founder and CEO of Mudrex, told Livemint that Bitcoin is hovering around $103,700 after briefly testing resistance at $105,000, supported by better-than-expected April CPI data at 2.3 per cent.
Presto Research noted that Bitcoin's dominance has reached levels last seen before the 2021 bull market, and capital is starting to flow into altcoins.
The second-biggest crypto token Ethereum was at $2,647.38, up 8.55 per cent over the previous day, with a market cap of $319.95 billion, while stablecoin Tether was at $0.9997, up 0.03 per cent, with a market cap of $150.31 billion.
Donald Trump's favoured Solana was also up 6.97 per cent at $180.92, with a market cap of $93.97 billion.
Data from CoinShares showed that investments in crypto funds jumped by $882 million, rising for the third consecutive week. It credited a combination of factors such as risks of stagflation in the US, growth of M2 money supply globally, and forward movement with the strategic bitcoin reserve by US states.
Of the tokens, it said Bitcoin saw funds of $867 million, followed by Ethereum ($1.5 million), and XRP ($1.4 million), while investments in Solana decreased by $3.4 million.
Himanshu Maradiya, Founder and Chairman of crypto exchange CIFDAQ noted that crypto market remains range-bound. He said that meme coins are capturing retail attention, and on the stablecoin front, Tether supply has exceeded $150 billion, representing 63 per cent of the $238 billion stablecoin market, and facilitating over $521 billion in weekly transfers, surpassing traditional payment networks in volume.
HTX Reserch noted that institutional investors, such as BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF infusions, and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, are driving growth.
Patel added, 'This is the third straight month of cooling inflation, strengthening expectations of Fed rate cuts in 2025 and boosting the outlook for risk assets. Interestingly, Bitcoin's 10-day realised volatility dropped to 43.86, lower than S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 at 47.29 and 51.26 respectively, showing the increasing maturity of Bitcoin as an asset. The lower volatility, cooling inflation and a trade war truce create favourable market conditions for Bitcoin's next leg of rally.'
Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, suggested some caution due to profit booking. 'The crypto market cap has fallen despite continued positive traction in the equity market. The strengthening dollar on news of tariffs has been a natural drag on cryptos. This is doubly true due to Bitcoin's proximity to the highs, reinforcing the pull for short-term profit taking after rallying in just over a month,' he pointed.

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