Bitcoin (BTC) price has experienced heightened volatility as the Middle East crisis signals further escalation. The flagship coin dropped as much as $103,396 on Tuesday, which resulted in a similar move for the wider altcoin market.

As a result of the heightened volatility, more than $513 million was liquidated from the crypto-leveraged market, with the long traders accounting for $421 million. Nevertheless, crypto traders remain optimistic for a bullish rally soon as shown by the BTC fear and greed index, which hovered around 68 percent.

Bitcoin Demand Remains Strong

As Coinpedia has pointed out severally in the recent past, the overall demand for Bitcoin by institutional investors remains highly elevated. Amid the ongoing short-term bearish outlook, the Bitcoin balance on centralized exchanges continued to drop to about 2.08 million at the time of this writing from 2.26 million on April 24, 2025.

The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs and institutional investors, led by Strategy and Metaplanet, remain a major contributor to the declining supply of BTC on centralized exchanges (CEXs). Over the past five days, U.S. spot BTC ETFs have recorded a net cash inflow of approximately $1.46 billion, led by BlackRock’s IBIT.

What Next for BTC Price?

BTC price has been forming a bullish continuation pattern despite the seemingly choppy market. Following a 5 percent drop in the past 24 hours to retest a crucial support level around $103k, BTC price has rebounded over 1 percent to trade around $105k on Tuesday, during the mid-North American trading session.

In the two-hour timeframe, BTC price retested a bullish breakout from a falling logarithmic trendline. Within the 2-hour timeframe, BTC’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovered around oversold levels, suggesting a rebound in the near future.

However, a consistent close below the support range between $103k and $101k will trigger further bearish sentiment in the subsequent weeks.