Solana has spent weeks compressing inside a tightening range, with price action forming a structure that suggests a breakout is brewing. As volatility contracts, pressure continues to build within the pattern. A decisive move above $88.60 could serve as the trigger bulls have been waiting for, potentially unleashing a sharp, impulsive rally as stored momentum is released. Volatility Squeeze On Solana — Triangle About To Resolve Solana has been trading within a tight sideways range for the past three weeks, gradually forming what appears to be a triangle pattern on the chart. Related Reading: Crypto Trader Predicts Solana 50% Price Crash To $30 If This Level Breaks According to More Crypto Online, a decisive break above the Sunday high at $88.60 would serve as the first clear indication that bulls are stepping back in with strength. Such a move would suggest that the triangle formation is nearing completion and could mark the beginning of a sustained upside breakout. Triangle patterns are particularly important because they often precede aggressive expansions. As price continues to coil within the structure, volatility contracts, and pressure build. This compression phase stores energy, increasing the probability that the eventual breakout will be forceful rather than gradual. Once price clears a key boundary, the release of that built-up momentum can trigger a sharp and impulsive move. 200 SMA And Range Hold Key To $85 Reclaim In a recent Solana analysis, Umair Crypto emphasized that the key level to watch is BTC’s pair 200 SMA and range structure. A sustained hold above these levels would open the door for an $85 reclaim. However, failure to maintain that strength would likely keep SOL trapped in the broader $77–$90 consolidation range, a scenario that has now persisted for 24 days, with no structural change since the initial call. Related Reading: Solana Reclaims $80 Amid Friday Market Bounce – Analysts Set Next Targets Structurally, the two pairs are telling different stories. On the USDT chart, SOL continues to print lower highs, signaling weakness. Meanwhile, the BTC pair is showing relative strength, forming higher highs and suggesting a more constructive trend. This divergence creates a pivotal moment where resolution could tilt either bullish or bearish, depending on which structure ultimately confirms. At present, the BTC pair has pushed above its range and reclaimed the 4H 200 SMA. However, Umair Crypto cautions that this setup has failed before, causing the price to slip back below the 200 SMA and re-entering the range, invalidating the breakout. For a true breakout scenario to activate, the BTC pair must hold above both the range and the 200 SMA with a clean retest. If that happens, strength could transfer to the USDT pair, making the $85 point of control a key reclaim target. If not, further rotation within the $77–$90 range remains the most likely outcome. In short: no confirmed hold, no confirmed breakout, BTC pair confirms, USDT executes. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana (SOL) could be facing one of its most critical technical tests in recent months, with crypto trader Jussy warning that a breakdown at a key level could trigger a collapse toward prices not seen since previous bear market cycles. With the cryptocurrency trading above this level and forming two bearish patterns across multiple timeframes, the analyst has set two major crash targets for SOL. However, only one of these patterns could lead to a staggering 50% decline to $30 once the price breaks. Solana Bear Flag Pattern Signals Crash To $30 On Tuesday, February 24, Jussy took to X, warning crypto investors and traders that Solana could be heading toward a dramatic price collapse. The analyst notes that the leading smart contract token is currently at a critical support level of $76.57 on the price chart that could define its next bearish move. Related Reading: Wondering What’s Going On With Solana? Projects Are Taking Massive Hit As Price Plunges Looking at the daily chart, Jussy has identified a Bear Flag formation that has been developing since early February 2026. The pattern shows price consolidating within a descending channel after a steep sell-off from above $112, underscoring Solana’s continued downtrend over the past months. Should the $76.57 support level give way, the analyst projects a measured move from the Bear Flag pattern to $37.88, representing a potential decline of more than 50% from current levels. Jussy also said in his analysis that Solana is on a path to $30, suggesting the altcoin could fall even further to that level. Notably, the analyst’s bearish forecast arrives amid Solana’s recent price struggles, as broader market volatility and shifting investor sentiment weigh heavily on the sector. With the crypto bear market already in full swing, SOL has been trading sideways, mirroring the weak performance across major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. CoinMarketCap’s data also shows that Solana’s price has fallen by more than 38% since the start of the year. While it was trending downward just last week, the altcoin has since staged a slight recovery from the $76 level, highlighted in Jussy’s chart analysis. As of writing, SOL is trading above $86, up more than 13% from the critical support level. Should upward momentum persist, it could signal a potential deviation from the analyst’s bearish $30 forecast. Triple Top Pattern Signals Lesser Decline To $60 For his second bearish forecast, Jussy highlighted that Solana has formed a Triple Top pattern on its four-hour chart. This pattern is characterized by three successive failed attempts to push higher, with each one printing at a lower peak than the last. The structure, visible across the January and February price action, suggests buyers have been steadily losing momentum after each recovery attempt. Related Reading: Here’s Why The Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Solana Prices Are Still Crashing Hard If the $76.57 support level breaks, Jussy sees a measured move from the Triple Top pattern down to $61.73 as Solana’s next target. A drop to this level would represent a roughly 19% crash from the support area. Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
The rally marks one of the strongest single-day rebounds in weeks, snapping a steady slide that had pushed bitcoin down sharply from its October highs.
Solana’s (SOL) latest price decline is unfolding against a broader period of weakness across the digital asset market, with traders increasingly shifting toward risk-off positioning. Related Reading: Ready For A 443% Dogecoin Move? The Meme Coin Just Touched A Historically Explosive Level After weeks of steady losses, SOL has slipped below key technical levels, raising questions about whether current support can hold or if another leg lower is approaching. Market data shows declining trader confidence, rising short positioning, and weakening on-chain profitability. According to data tracked on CoinMarketCap, Solana recently traded in the high-$70 range after failing to maintain momentum above $95 earlier in the year. The move extends a six-week losing streak and places the asset near critical support zones that analysts say will likely determine the next directional move. SOL's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: SOLUSD on Tradingview Derivatives Markets Signal Growing Downside Risk Open interest in Solana futures fell roughly 2% to about $5.09 billion, even as trading volume surged sharply. This combination often indicates liquidations rather than fresh buying activity. Also, funding rates have turned negative, and the long-to-short ratio has dropped below 1, suggesting more traders are positioning for further dips. Short bias has also appeared among larger accounts despite retail traders maintaining leveraged long exposure on exchanges such as Binance and OKX. Analysts warn that this imbalance could increase the risk of additional volatility if support levels fail. Technically, Solana remains below major moving averages, while momentum indicators continue trending downward. RSI readings near oversold territory reflect sustained selling pressure rather than confirmed reversal signals. On-Chain Data Shows Weakening Holder Confidence On-chain metrics support the cautious outlook. Figures from Glassnode indicate that only about 20% of Solana addresses are currently in profit, the lowest level since late 2023. During previous market downturns, similar readings appeared closer to capitulation phases, suggesting downside risk may not yet be exhausted. Long-term holder accumulation, which strengthened earlier in the year, has slowed notably as the price dropped below $100. Analysts interpret this as declining conviction among investors who previously absorbed supply during pullbacks. Key Levels Traders Are Watching Chart data shows immediate support clustered between $75 and $67. A decisive break below this region could expose lower targets near $62 or even $60 if selling accelerates. On the upside, recovery attempts face resistance around $82–$83, where a bearish trend line has formed. Related Reading: Political Meme Coins Implode: TRUMP Down 92%, MELANIA Nearly Wiped Out Solana’s outlook hinges on whether buyers can defend the February lows. Without a sustained reclaim of higher resistance zones, market structure suggests the broader downtrend remains intact as crypto market uncertainty continues to weigh on sentiment. Cover image from ChatGPT, SOLUSD chart on Tradingview
The crypto analyst who warned Solana (SOL) traders to sell near the cycle top at $250 is back with a new outlook after the market validated his earlier call. Crypto Patel says the decline in SOL’s price following his $200-$250 exit zone has now created the conditions for a new long-term opportunity, but only if another key level gives way. His latest chart frames Solana’s price action as a repeatable cycle of euphoric expansion and sharp correction before the next major rally. Crypto Patel Shares New Solana Price Prediction In a recent post on X, Crypto Patel reminded community members that when Solana was trading near its peak between $250 and $200, most investors were projecting a run to $1,000. Instead, the price reversed from a high around $295 and collapsed to near $67, marking a massive 77% drawdown from the top. Related Reading: Here’s Why The Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Solana Prices Are Still Crashing Hard Now, the analyst is presenting a new outlook, warning of a potentially similar decline in Solana’s price this cycle. He notes that Solana is now testing the $85 level, which corresponds to the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement on the chart. The zone has acted as a temporary support; however, it remains structurally weak given the broader trend of lower highs since the peak. The analyst suggests that if Solana fails to break $85, its price could slide into the $50- $30 range, extending its decline over the past two years. He has labeled this area as a strong Fair Value Gap (FVG) accumulation zone based on historical demand and volume behavior. The accompanying chart also maps prior expansion phases in which Solana surged by thousands of percent after long consolidation periods. In the 2021 bull cycle, price rallied by more 24,234.55% and then declined by 97.01% the following year. Crypto Patel’s current projection places Solana in a similar expansion and corrective phase. The cryptocurrency has already experienced its expansion stage in 2024, when its price jumped by more than 3,699% to a peak of around $295. Now the analyst predicts an upcoming correction, where price is expected to decline by a whopping 89.44% in mid 2026. Long-Term Targets Remain Intact Despite Correction Despite the bearish short-term outlook, Crypto Patel has not abandoned his long-range bullish projections for SOL. He maintains that once the corrective phase is complete, Solana could still target the $500– $1,000 range. His chart projects a sharp upward surge toward the $1,000 level by 2027, representing a massive 3,103% surge. Related Reading: XRP, Solana Secure Inflows As Institutions Move $1 Billion Out Of Bitcoin And Ethereum Going further, the analyst also shared his bullish price projection for Solana by late 2029. He expects that once the price hits $1,000, SOL could rally strongly and steadily toward $10,000. He has marked $9,270 as the next long-term target, reflecting a rally of approximately 27,660%. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana is tightly compressed inside a defined range after sweeping liquidity on both sides. With volatility fading and pressure building, the current structure suggests a major breakout move could be approaching. $77–$90 Range Remains Firmly Intact Solana remains locked inside a well-defined $77–$90 range, with the broader outlook suggesting that any major resolution is more likely to unfold to the downside toward $57. According to Umair Crypto, the price has been consolidating within this band for the past 11 days, with liquidity already swept on both ends. That behavior signals a balanced market environment rather than a trending one. Related Reading: Solana Funding Rates Hit 17-Day Negative Streak — What This Means For Price Currently, Solana is trading below the range’s point of control (POC), which introduces slight short-term bearish pressure. However, from a structural standpoint, the market remains in choppy consolidation. A short-term move toward $81–$82 remains possible for another rotation higher, and even a marginal push toward $93 could occur if the highs are taken again. Still, unless $90 is decisively reclaimed and flipped into support with strong volume, such moves would likely qualify as deviations rather than sustainable breakouts. For now, the primary expectation is continued consolidation before a larger expansion phase begins. If the range ultimately resolves to the downside, $57 stands out as the broader target. Until a clear structural shift occurs, this remains a range-trading environment, not trend-trading. Solana Wyckoff Reaccumulation Unfolding After Brutal Downtrend Trader Tardigrade recently shared a detailed outlook suggesting that Solana is undergoing a classic Wyckoff Reaccumulation pattern after its prolonged and exhausting grind lower. Following months of distribution-like price action and volatility, the current structure appears to be transitioning into a base-building phase that could eventually support a larger cycle advance if key levels continue to hold. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Trades Heavy Below $90 As Breakdown Risk Grows According to the breakdown, Phase A began with a Selling Climax (SC) near $110 in August 2024, followed by an Automatic Rally (AR) toward approximately $264. Phase B then unfolded through multiple Secondary Tests (STs), alongside a notable Upthrust After (UA) fakeout near $295. Phase C appears to have completed with a Spring formation around the $68 level in early 2026 — a sharp wick rejection that likely swept liquidity before reversing. The market is now potentially entering Phase D, which would require Solana to firmly hold above $95 for a confirmed Sign of Strength (SOS) rally. If this structure continues to play out as outlined, projected upside targets include a Last Point of Support (LPS) near $150, a Backup (BU/LPS) zone around $250, and eventually a broader markup phase that could extend toward $350–$500 or higher. However, the bullish thesis remains conditional; SOL must continue to defend the Spring low and demonstrate constructive volume behavior to validate the larger cycle advance. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana has suffered a sharp sell-off that’s left its chart looking fragile, with price sliding straight into a key demand zone. Despite the drop, big money remains notably cautious, signaling that institutions may be waiting for clearer direction before stepping in. Solana’s Sharp Breakdown Leaves the Weekly Chart on Edge AltCoin Việt Nam noted that Solana has already suffered a sharp sell-off, a move that is clearly reflected on the weekly chart. Price dropped aggressively from the higher range and is now trading around the $90–93 zone. The bounce so far appears weak, and volume is not signaling strong participation from large buyers stepping in to defend the move. Related Reading: Solana Accumulation Narrative Strengthens With Big Institutions, A Rally Imminent? What stood out most in the update was the behavior of institutional players. Despite the lower prices, institutional ETFs have shown little interest in accumulating SOL in this zone. This contrasts sharply with earlier phases, when they were buying aggressively at much higher levels. Addressing questions from the community about whether institutions “knew” the crash was coming, AltCoin Việt Nam explained that this is not necessarily the case. Instead, institutional behavior simply differs from that of retail traders. Their decisions are driven more by trend structure, liquidity conditions, and capital flows than by attempts to predict exact price bottoms. Firstly, ETFs typically do not dollar-cost average in the same way retail investors do. When momentum is strong and inflows are active, they are willing to buy at higher prices to maintain exposure. However, once the trend breaks and volatility rises, waiting for clarity becomes more important than trying to catch the bottom. For institutions, entering at the right time with renewed momentum matters far more than buying at the lowest possible price. Finally, AltCoin Việt Nam highlighted that ETF accumulation is also dependent on capital inflows. Without fresh money entering the funds, there is little incentive or ability for them to add positions, even at discounted prices. For retail participants, the approach may differ. Short-term traders should not expect immediate institutional support, as large players currently have no urgency to step in. Step-Down Decline Brings SOL Into Key Demand Zone According to an update by BitGuru, Solana has been moving lower in a series of step-down declines, reflecting sustained bearish pressure. Price has now reached a key demand zone between $90 and $95, an area where buyers have previously stepped in to defend the market. Related Reading: Solana To Retest November Lows After $144 Rejection, But Analysts Remain Bullish BitGurun noted that selling pressure appears to be easing as SOL trades within this range, suggesting that the market is attempting to form a short-term base. If this demand zone continues to hold, BitGuru believes a relief move toward prior structural levels becomes increasingly likely. Such a move would represent a technical rebound rather than a full trend reversal. Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
Standard Chartered has lowered its end-2026 price target for Solana to $250, down from $310, while leaving its longer-dated trajectory intact. The bank’s roadmap still points to $2,000 by 2030 as the bank argues the chain’s activity mix is rotating away from memecoin-led trading toward stablecoin-based micropayments. The revised forecast comes as the bank’s digital assets research team frames the current drawdown as a period when “performance differentiation” across crypto should become more visible, rather than a tape where everything trades as a single risk bucket. Why Standard Chartered Lowers The 2026 Solana Target, Boosts Long View Behind the 2026 haircut is a more skeptical view on how quickly Solana can convert its cost and throughput advantages into sustained, fee-generating economic activity beyond speculative bursts. In Standard Chartered’s telling, Solana is in the middle of a narrative transition that is strategically attractive but not instantaneous in market terms. Related Reading: Solana Returns To A Critical Demand Zone — Trend Reload Or Breakdown Risk? Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s head of global digital assets research, anchored the shift in decentralized exchange (DEX) flow composition. “When we initiated coverage of Solana in May 2025, we observed that activity on the network was largely concentrated in memecoin trading on DEXs.” “Composition of DEX flows has shifted from memecoin trading toward SOL–stablecoin pairs.” That rotation, Kendrick argued, accelerated over 2025 as capital moved away from meme-focused activity which he said peaked in mid-January around the launch of the Trump token and toward tokenized dollars. The implication is that Solana’s DEX activity is beginning to resemble a payments-adjacent rail more than a single-cycle casino, even if overall volumes have cooled. Standard Chartered also flagged Solana’s ultra-low transaction costs as a key enabler for “micropayment” use cases, including AI-driven payments, where even modest fee overhead can break unit economics. One of the more striking metrics in the report is stablecoin turnover: Kendrick said stablecoin velocity on Solana is already two to three times higher than on Ethereum, suggesting Solana may be carving out a distinct role for high-frequency, low-value transfers. Related Reading: Solana Could Reach $1,600+ Within Five Years, Bitwise CIO Says The bank tied that possibility to “internet-native” payment protocols such as Coinbase-backed x402, while cautioning that the repositioning will take time to translate into market leadership. That slower timeline is part of why Standard Chartered expects Solana to lag Ethereum in the 2026–2027 window, even as the bank becomes more constructive on Solana’s longer-run upside if micropayment demand compounds. Despite trimming the 2026 target, Standard Chartered’s longer-term schedule remains aggressive: $400 in 2027, $700 in 2028, $1,200 in 2029, and $2,000 by end-2030, according to reporting by The Block. The bank’s framework implies that Solana’s “micropayments” phase is expected to matter more as the cycle matures, with Kendrick also projecting Solana to outperform Bitcoin over 2027–2030. At press time, SOL traded at $96.93. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Solana has pulled back into a key demand zone, a level that could determine whether its strong trend continues or falters. How price reacts here will be crucial, as a hold may signal a trend reload, while a breakdown could push SOL into broader market chop. Solana Returns To A Critical Weekly Demand Zone Giving an update on the weekly timeframe, Cyril-DeFi explained that Solana has been one of the standout performers this cycle. Still, price has now returned to a critical demand zone that could determine its next major move. According to Cyril, this area has historically acted as a pivot point where momentum either re-ignites or fades. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Keeps $100 Alive, Recovery Push Faces First Test This is the type of zone where strong trends tend to reload if buyers successfully defend it. However, a failure to hold would suggest that the prior strength is losing traction, increasing the risk that the trend structure begins to deteriorate. From Cyril’s perspective, a firm hold at current levels would position Solana to lead the next altcoin impulse, reinforcing its relative strength against the broader market. On the other hand, losing this demand zone would likely see SOL slip into extended consolidation, moving in line with the wider market chop rather than outperforming it. Cyril-DeFi concluded by stressing that he is closely observing how the price behaves around this area instead of trying to predict outcomes in advance. The Only High-Conviction Long Setup On The Table According to a recent Solana post shared by Ardi, only one long setup stands out as technically sound under current conditions. With the market still under pressure, waiting for confirmation seems safer than attempting to anticipate a bottom, as premature entries tend to get punished in weak structures. Related Reading: Solana Pauses After 20% Drop — This Key Level Could Decide What’s Next Ardi highlighted the $119 level as a key pivot for Solana. A successful reclaim of this zone, ideally through a spring or brief fakeout below resistance, could signal that demand is returning. If that occurs, price could surge higher toward the top of the range on a macro lower high rally rather than a full bullish reversal. From a risk-to-reward standpoint, this reclaim scenario remains the most attractive option available. It provides a clear technical trigger, defined invalidation, and a logical upside target, allowing traders to participate without overexposing themselves in an uncertain environment. He also outlined an alternative strategy involving the 200-week simple moving average around the $100 mark, an area that previously acted as macro support in April 2025. Still, Ardi cautioned that in a broader downtrend, odds are often against traders until a major level is reclaimed, making a decisive move back above $119 crucial before confidence can truly return. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, said he thinks Solana could plausibly become a trillion-dollar asset within five years—an outcome that would roughly translate into a ~$1,600 SOL price on a simple market-cap-per-token basis, depending on circulating supply. Hougan made the remarks on the Jan. 29 episode of When Shift Happens, framing his Solana view through what he called a “two ways to win” setup: growth in the addressable market (stablecoins and tokenized assets), plus an increasing share captured by Solana versus competing networks. Why Solana Could Hit $1,600+ Within 5 Years Hougan argued that the “infrastructure market” for stablecoins and tokenization is expanding quickly enough that large, liquid L1s should be valued less like niche crypto experiments and more like enabling rails for traditional finance. “The US Secretary of Treasury expects the stablecoin market to 12x over the next four years,” he said, adding that Larry Fink has described a future where “every asset, every fund, ETF, stock, bond, real estate will be tokenized.” From there, his Solana thesis leaned heavily on relative positioning. Ethereum remains the incumbent in stablecoins and tokenization, Hougan said, but Solana is “a legit competitor with an interesting technological differentiation,” and crucially “it’s extraordinarily easy to use and the community has a ship first attitude.” Related Reading: Solana Scores Major Institutional Adoption As WisdomTree Goes On-Chain That usability point, in his view, is underpriced by investors who focus on benchmark-style comparisons. “I think ease of use is a killer app that’s underrated by investors,” Hougan said. “Investors like to talk about throughput and they like to talk… TPS… who cares about this? …For an end user who’s trading, who’s on-ramping, ease of use is the killer app. And Solana is just easy to use, just dead easy to use.” Hougan also acknowledged a common investor blind spot: token supply dynamics can separate price action from market cap growth. He noted that Solana’s market value can rise meaningfully even if the token price revisits prior highs, and suggested staking yield partially offsets dilution, citing “roughly like 7% a year.” Another thread in the discussion was how regulation shaped institutional behavior. Hougan said Solana’s footprint in stablecoins and tokenization was constrained during the prior US regulatory environment, arguing that institutions “couldn’t build on Solana” if they believed it sat “outside of the regulatory perimeter.” With that cloud lifting, he said, mandates are starting to broaden. He also described why the ETF wrapper matters more for a smaller asset. “You put a little bit of inflows into an ETF package and they’re chasing a relatively small supply of Solana,” Hougan said. “It’s one of the best setups for an asset that I’ve ever seen because you have this small constrained size, you have significant institutional demand, you have stablecoins and tokenization… you put all that together and it seems like a winner.” Still, he avoided hard price targets and instead stayed in market-cap terms. “In 5 years I think it could be a trillion dollar asset. I think that’s relatively easy to imagine,” he said. “It’s hard to give a precise target because it depends on the pace of growth on stablecoins and tokenization. It depends on whether Congress passes the Clarity Act. It depends on the sort of crypto market cycles.” E156: @Matt_Hougan from @BitwiseInvest – $6.5M Bitcoin and the strongest Solana setup ever? This might be the most bullish yet rational episode we’ve done on the future of crypto: why debasement, institutional flows & tokenization are just getting started. Timestamps: 0:00… pic.twitter.com/WMqvKL7pCj — MR SHIFT ???? (@KevinWSHPod) January 29, 2026 On simple market-cap math, a $1 trillion Solana valuation implies a four-figure token price depending on supply. The relationship is straightforward: token price equals market cap divided by supply. Using Solana’s circulating supply of roughly 566 million SOL, a $1 trillion market cap works out to about $1,766 per SOL ($1,000,000,000,000 ÷ 566,000,000). Related Reading: Solana Pauses After 20% Drop — This Key Level Could Decide What’s Next If you instead use a fully diluted-style denominator closer to 619 million SOL, the same $1 trillion market cap implies roughly $1,615 per SOL ($1,000,000,000,000 ÷ 619,000,000). In other words, Hougan’s “trillion-dollar asset” framing maps to something like the mid-$1,000s per token on today’s supply assumptions, with the exact number moving as supply changes. Notably, Hougan’s Solana call sat alongside a broader macro narrative he returned to repeatedly: monetary debasement pushing investors toward scarce and non-sovereign stores of value. On Bitcoin, he argued the “two ways to win” are the store-of-value market expanding and Bitcoin taking share from gold, an arc he said could drive multi-million-dollar BTC over decades if the last 10–15 years of adoption trends persist. For Solana, the equivalent is less about being “digital gold” and more about becoming a primary venue for stablecoin flows and tokenized securities. If those rails scale and if Solana continues gaining share as a high-velocity, institution-friendly network, Hougan’s trillion-dollar scenario implies the market is still pricing the opportunity too conservatively. At press time, SOL traded at $115.40. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Solana is rapidly positioning itself as a core hub for tokenized finance following WisdomTree’s deployment of fund infrastructure on the blockchain. The move reflects growing confidence among traditional asset managers in SOL’s ability to support large-scale, regulated financial products with the speed and cost efficiency required by modern capital markets. How Traditional Asset Managers Expand On-Chain Operations WisdomTree’s deployment of $159 billion in fund infrastructure on Solana marks a turning point for how regulated money moves. A research and news site, Genfinity, revealed on X that regulated money market funds are now settling natively on SOL, which means institutional cash flow assets no longer require traditional banking rails. One of the clearest signals is the Government money market digital fund, which already holds around $730 million in on-chain assets. Direct minting eliminates synthetic exposure with real Treasury-backed settlement. This allows retail investors to access institutional-grade financial products with blockchain speed and low costs. The multi-chain deployment is proof that financial institutions prioritize performance over narrative. Currently, SOL is processing the same regulated funds that previously required correspondent banks and a 3-day settlement. The gap between on-chain infrastructure and traditional finance products has just collapsed. An industry-leading commentary on the global capital markets, The Kobeissi Letter, reported that Coinbase has announced it is integrating with Jupiter Exchange directly into its on-chain trading stack. With this move, millions of Solana-based tokens can now be traded on Coinbase for the first time, all through Jupiter on-chain liquidity. Instead of relying on the slow manual process of listing assets on a centralized order book, Coinbase is currently using on-chain infrastructure to provide instant access to Solana-native markets. Under the new integration, users can deploy existing Coinbase balances and payment methods to trade tokens from a self-custodial wallet. “Even the centralized exchanges are moving on-chain,” The Kobeissi Letter noted. Why Liquidity Grabs Often Precede Reversals According to Larskooistra, the local context on Solana is fairly conducive to building a structure. The Price has already completed a Model 2 accumulation schematic, and grabbed all buy-side liquidity while taking the range high and broke market structure back to bearish, creating a supply in the process. Related Reading: Solana Structure Suggests One Final Test Before Bulls Can Step In From a higher-timeframe perspective, this gives a bearish context on BTC whenever accumulation models complete themselves and break the market structure, and then turn back to bearish afterwards, which shows a full reversal towards the lows. Larskooistra expects the equal lows acting as the next liquidity target to be taken out, and is looking for distribution schematics on the current move up. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana has taken a breather after a sharp 20% sell-off, with the price now stabilizing at a technically significant zone. As volatility cools and consolidation sets in, the market is watching closely to see whether this level acts as a launchpad for a recovery or opens the door to further downside. The next move from here could define SOL’s short-term direction. VAH Rejection Sends SOL Back Into Range Market expert Umair Crypto explained that Solana’s rejection at the Value Area High (VAH) near $141 set the tone for the recent move. After briefly extending to $148, SOL once again failed to flip the psychological $150 level into support, and ultimately triggered a sharp downside reaction, resulting in a nearly 20% decline toward the $117 area. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Recovery Reaches A Level That Changes Everything Following the sell-off, price rotated back into the same two-month consolidation range, suggesting that the move lower was more of a range continuation than the start of a new trend. SOL is now retesting the Value Area Low flip zone around $128, a level that has repeatedly acted as a short-term pivot between buyers and sellers. If $128 holds and buyers manage to defend this zone, the analyst sees room for a bounce toward $132. Further acceptance above that level could open a path toward the range Point of Control near $138. However, even a move into that region would still reflect range-bound conditions rather than a confirmed bullish breakout. Umair Crypto stressed that SOL remains stuck inside a broad $30 range, offering little directional edge in the middle. An acceptance below $120 would shift the bias firmly bearish. On the other hand, a strong reclaim above $150 would flip the market structure bullish. Until either scenario plays out, the higher-probability outcome continues to lean toward lower prices within the range. SOL Enters A Compression Phase Above Key Support According to a recent market update from BitGuru, Solana has experienced a significant pullback and is now entering a phase of consolidation just above a critical support zone. This type of price compression is a classic technical indicator that the market is preparing for a sharp reaction move. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Recovery At Risk With Bears Guarding Resistance As volatility narrows and the trading range tightens, the build-up of market energy typically precedes a breakout. The path forward remains binary based on Solana’s interaction with its immediate boundaries. A clean reclaim of the nearby resistance level would signal a return of buyer confidence and a potential shift in momentum. Conversely, a failure to defend this established base would keep significant downside risk active, potentially leading to a deeper correction if the support zone is breached. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Sharps is increasingly framing passive staking rewards as a recurring cash-flow stream rather than a directional bet on SOL prices.
Delphi Digital is betting that Solana’s next major upgrade cycle will reposition the network as an “exchange grade” environment capable of supporting onchain order books that can realistically contend with centralized venues on latency, liquidity depth, and market structure. In a Jan. 20 post on X titled “2026 is the Year of Solana”, the research firm argued Solana’s 2026 roadmap is its “most aggressive upgrade cycle” yet, one that “overhaul[s] everything from consensus to infrastructure to become the decentralized Nasdaq.” Why Delphi Digital Calls 2026 “The Year Of Solana” Delphi framed the roadmap less as a grab bag of performance enhancements and more as a capital-markets push: “Solana’s roadmap is about transforming it into an exchange grade environment where a native onchain CLOB can viably compete with CEX latency, liquidity depth, and fairness. Here are all the upgrades making this possible.” In that view, shaving milliseconds matters only insofar as it produces predictable, enforceable execution outcomes for applications like high-frequency trading and central limit order books. The centerpiece, Delphi wrote, is Alpenglow, a consensus redesign it called “the most significant protocol level change in Solana’s history.” The firm said Alpenglow introduces a new architecture built around Votor and Rotor, with Votor changing how validators reach agreement. Rather than “chaining multiple voting rounds together,” validators would aggregate votes offchain and “commit to finality in one or two rounds,” producing “theoretical finality in the 100-150 millisecond range, down from the original 12.8 seconds.” Related Reading: Solana At Risk Of Breakdown After Key Rejection – Is $100 Next? Delphi emphasized Votor’s parallel finalization paths as a resilience feature, not just a speed play. If a block gets “overwhelming support (80%+ stake)” it finalizes immediately; if support is between 60% and 80%, a second round triggers, and finality follows if that also clears 60%. The goal, Delphi argued, is to preserve finality even with unresponsive segments of the network. Alpenglow also introduces what Delphi called a “20+20” resilience model: safety holds as long as no more than 20% of stake is malicious, while liveness persists even if another 20% is offline, “tolerat[ing] up to 40% of the network being either malicious or inactive while still maintaining finality.” Under this design, Proof of History is “effectively deprecated,” replaced by deterministic slot scheduling and local timers. Delphi said the upgrade is expected to roll out in early to mid 2026. Delphi also pointed to Firedancer, Jump’s C++ validator client, as a structural upgrade aimed at reducing a long-standing operational risk. Solana has historically relied on a single client, now known as Agave, and Delphi described that “monoculture” as a central weakness because client-level faults can cascade into broader network halts. Firedancer’s objective, Delphi said, is a deterministic, high-throughput engine that can process “millions of TPS with minimal latency variance.” Ahead of full readiness, Delphi highlighted “Frankendancer,” a transitional build that combines Firedancer’s networking and block production modules with Agave’s runtime and consensus components, as a bridge to “substantially” increased client diversity. On infrastructure, Delphi spotlighted DoubleZero as a private fiber overlay for validators, likening its transmission profile to traditional exchange connectivity: “the same infrastructure traditional exchanges like Nasdaq and CME rely on for microsecond level transmission.” The argument is that as validator sets expand, propagation variance becomes the enemy of tight finality windows. By routing messages along “optimal paths” and supporting multicast delivery, Delphi said DoubleZero can narrow latency gaps across validators—an enabler for both Votor’s quorum formation and Rotor’s propagation design. Related Reading: SOL Price Faces Key Support Amid Solana’s Rapid Network Expansion Delphi also framed Solana’s block-building roadmap as a market-structure project. It described Jito’s BAM (Block Assembly Marketplace) as separating ordering from execution via a marketplace and privacy layer, with transactions ingested into TEEs so “neither validators nor builders can see raw transaction content before ordering takes effect,” reducing pre-execution behavior like frontrunning. Harmonic, meanwhile, targets builder competition by introducing an open aggregation layer so validators can accept proposals from “multiple competing builders in real time,” with Delphi summarizing: “Think of Harmonic as a meta-market and BAM as a micro-market.” Raiku rounds out the thesis by adding deterministic latency and programmable execution guarantees adjacent to Solana’s validator set, using Ahead-of-Time (AOT) transactions for pre-committed workflows and Just-in-Time (JIT) transactions for real-time needs—without modifying L1 consensus. Delphi ultimately tied the technical roadmap to market demand: Solana’s spot trading gravity, the consolidation of onchain perps toward a handful of venues, and the need to reach performance parity with centralized platforms. It cited expectations for “new Solana native perps like Bulk Trade coming early next year,” and pointed to products like xStocks bringing “onchain equities directly to Solana,” arguing that liquidity and attention are consolidating toward a chain with faster settlement, better UX, and denser capital. At press time, SOL traded at $127. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
On-chain data shows the Network Growth indicator has continued to fall for Solana recently, a sign that adoption of the asset has remained weak. Solana Network Growth Has Been Declining According to data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment, SOL’s recent price recovery has come despite a drop in the Network Growth. This metric measures the weekly total number of addresses that are coming online on the blockchain for the first time. A wallet comes “online” on the network when it participates in some kind of transfer activity. Thus, the wallets that the Network Growth is counting are the ones that are making their first transaction on the network. Related Reading: Bitcoin Risks Drop To $69,000 If Pennant Support Breaks, Analyst Warns When the value of the Network Growth is high, it means that a large number of addresses are being created on the blockchain. Such a trend can be a sign that an influx of users is occurring. On the other hand, the indicator being low suggests that there isn’t much new address generation taking place on the network, which can be a potential indication that the chain isn’t attracting fresh investors. Now, here is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the Solana Network Growth over the last couple of years: As displayed in the above graph, the Solana Network Growth has witnessed a drawdown recently, despite the fact that the SOL price has made some recovery since its December low. This suggests that the bullish price action has been unable to bring fresh attention to the cryptocurrency. Historically, rallies have generally needed the incoming of new investors to be sustainable, as it’s the increased trading activity that provides them with the fuel to go on. In the chart, Santiment has highlighted the case of a rally where this requirement wasn’t met. The Network Growth was initially at a significant level, but as this price surge from 2025 played out, the metric’s value plummeted. This could be a potential factor behind the rally eventually running out of momentum. In late 2024, the opposite conditions were present, as the Network Growth shot up alongside the Solana bull run, implying adoption backed the price appreciation. Considering these past cases, it’s possible that the indicator might have to reverse its trajectory if SOL’s recovery has to last. The latest downward move in the Network Growth is also not the only development SOL is dealing with right now. From the graph, it’s visible that the indicator has gone through a long-term downtrend since its high in November 2024. Related Reading: $460M Crypto Longs Squeezed As Bitcoin Slips Below $90,000 Back then, the metric had a value of 30.2 million, but today, the figure has dropped to just 7.3 million. It now remains to be seen whether the long decline in the adoption of Solana will continue or if a turnaround will appear. SOL Price Solana recovered back to $144 on Sunday, but the coin has retraced to open the week as its price is back at $139. Featured image from Dall-E, Santiment.net, chart from TradingView.com
Solana’s price action is sending a clear message: the correction may not be finished yet. While buyers continue to show up at key levels, the broader structure still points to the possibility of one final downside test before a sustainable move higher can take shape. Wave IV Still Unfinished As C-Wave Pressure Persists Crypto analyst More Crypto Online, in a recent update, explained that Solana’s chart structure still points to the possibility of another downside move before the ongoing correction is fully completed. Within the orange scenario, price action continues to align with a C-wave decline in a broader wave IV correction, keeping the corrective outlook valid as long as the structure remains non-impulsive. Related Reading: Solana Accumulation Narrative Strengthens With Big Institutions, A Rally Imminent? Even when viewed through the alternative white scenario, the current pullback can still be classified as an A-wave, which leaves room for another low before a B-wave recovery begins or before a potential fifth wave to the upside develops. In both interpretations, the analyst noted that the correction may not yet be finished. From a short-term perspective, the chart suggests that Solana could drift lower into the $81 to $90 region. Currently, there are no clear structural signals indicating an immediate bullish continuation, as the absence of impulsive upside movement keeps downside scenarios firmly in play. However, if prices were to turn higher from current levels without setting a new low, the broader structure since January 2025 would start to resemble a triangular consolidation rather than a completed wave IV. This alternative setup would imply extended sideways movement instead of a rapid trend resumption. Until stronger upside momentum appears, the focus remains on the risk of one more corrective low. Controlled Reaction At The 50% Fibonacci Signals Solana Buyer Strength AltCoin Việt Nam stated that Solana’s current price action is showing a strong and reassuring reaction around the 50% Fibonacci level. Instead of breaking down aggressively, the price has been rebounding in a controlled manner, suggesting that buyers are still maintaining influence. From a wave-structure perspective, wave IV does not appear to be rushing toward completion, leaving room for wave C to extend further if the market continues to move in line with the broader rhythm. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Holds Support Post-Gains, Testing Bull Conviction Adding to the bullish bias is the ongoing ETF narrative surrounding Solana. Spot SOL inflows are not arriving in a FOMO-driven manner, but rather through steady accumulation across several sessions. This type of capital flow often reflects longer-term positioning rather than short-term speculation, which explains why the price tends to rebound quickly whenever it revisits key support zones. That said, the outlook is not without invalidation. A sustained move below the 50% Fibonacci level would signal that the current structure has broken down. However, the analyst views the recent pauses as temporary breathers within a broader upward structure, rather than the beginning of a meaningful downtrend. Featured image from Pxfuel, chart from Tradingview.com
As Solana (SOL) fails to reclaim a major resistance area, a market watcher suggested that the cryptocurrency is poised to retest the November lows. However, other analysts predicted that the altcoin consolidation period may end soon. Related Reading: Dogecoin Prepares For Major Recovery As Bullish Momentum Builds – Here’s The Target Solana Rejected From Key Area On Friday, Solana faced a nearly 4% correction after trying to reclaim a crucial resistance zone for the second time this week. The cryptocurrency has been trading between the $120-$145 price range since the early November correction, hitting its local lows three weeks ago. Amid the crypto market’s star-of-the-year rally, SOL jumped over 13% from its yearly opening, breaking out of a three-month downtrend and hitting a one-month high of $143.4 earlier this week. After being rejected from the upper boundary on Tuesday, the altcoin is now attempting to build a base below the $140 level, where the cryptocurrency has faced strong resistance over the past three months. Despite the surge, Market observer Crypto Batman predicted that SOL could retrace toward the November lows as a bullish reversal pattern appears to be forming on its one-day timeframe. In an X post, the analyst noted that the altcoin has been rejected by the strong resistance area, asserting that a local top has formed. As a result, the cryptocurrency’s next support area is around the $128-$130 area, where its unfilled bullish Fair Value Gap (FVG) is located. Crypto Batman also pointed out that Solana has been potentially forming an inverse Head and Shoulders pattern since the Q4 corrections. According to the chart, the cryptocurrency formed the patterns left shoulder and head during the November and December pullbacks, with the neckline around the $145 area. Moreover, the recent rejection could signal that the right shoulder has begun forming, which would see the price drop to its late November lows before retesting the pattern’s neckline again and potentially breaking out if the formation is confirmed. Is SOL Waking Up? Market watcher King Arthur shared a bullish outlook for Solana, affirming that the altcoin “is finally waking up.” He affirmed that “We’ve been watching that long downward slide for a while now, and it’s so good to see SOL finally breaking free from that falling channel. This is a huge first step, but let’s stay sharp.” As he explained, breaking above the $143 level is crucial for Solana’s momentum, as it would open the door for a reclaim of the $152 level, lost during the November 13 breakdown. “If we manage that, I’d say the uptrend is officially back on track with my eyes set on $171.55,” he asserted. However, he warned that a drop below the $133 area would suggest that the price is not ready for bullish continuation. Related Reading: XRP Named The ‘New Cryptocurrency Darling’ After Strong Start Of The Year Meanwhile, analyst Crypto Jelle pointed out that Solana has been unable to challenge the $200 psychological barrier, chopping below this level over the past few months. He suggested that its recent performance is starting to resemble BNB’s price action. “Kinda starting to feel like BNB. Sideways for what feels like forever – and then, sudden expansion again. (…) Waiting for the same outcome,” he concluded. As of this writing, Solana is trading at $134.9, a 2.3% decline in the daily timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Solana is undergoing a major shift as big institutional players are increasingly positioning in the network. What was once viewed primarily as a high-performance Layer-1 driven by retail and developer enthusiasm is now attracting serious capital allocations from professional funds, asset managers, and institutional allocators. This trend bolsters the SOL accumulation thesis as an emerging institutional liquidity and infrastructure story. Why Big Capital Begins Positioning Into Solana In an X post, Rex reported that the latest wave of institutional interest in Solana confirms what analyst Solana Sensei pointed out, that big firms are actively accumulating SOL right now. Forward Industry alone is holding close to $1 billion worth of SOL, while firms like Defidevcorp and others are sitting on hundreds of millions. Related Reading: Solana’s Network Performance Reaches Historic Peaks As Transaction Activity Climbs Rex views this move as just the start, and SOL stands out when it comes to real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. Its insane transaction speed, combined with dirt-cheap fees and real scalability, finally makes moving real assets on-chain viable and sustainable. These projects choosing SOL isn’t accidental; they know where the future is heading. The expert also reflects on the journey. SOL has been addressed as fast but too centralized. Currently, the same institutions that once stayed on the sidelines are quietly stacking billions in SOL, while the real run hasn’t even started yet. SOL is positioning itself to reach levels that may look unimaginable in the next few years. “Supper proud to be part of this,” Rex noted. While the crowd stayed focused on the 2025 volatility, an analyst known as Senior highlighted that Solana entered 2026 by finally delivering on its biggest technical promise. The Firedancer validator client officially went live on mainnet as of January 2026, pushing the network’s finality to 150 milliseconds and finally ending years of beta resilience and performance concerns. At the same time, Western Union officially integrated the SOL network. Meanwhile, the Spot SOL ETF surpassed $1 billion in total net assets this week, indicating that the infrastructure has also reached true institutional-grade standards. In the past, the moment SOL transitions from a retail playground to a permanent global financial rail, becoming unshakeable will feel obvious. On-Chain Activity Reflects Real Usage Growth The Solana metrics are growing. Investor and founder of the Inner Circle, Lark Davis, has revealed that the SOL application revenue surged to $2.39 billion, a 46% year-over-year increase and a new all-time high in 2025. SOL network revenue also reached $1.48 billion, representing a 48 times increase over the past two years. Meanwhile, daily active wallets have climbed to 3.2 million, showing that SOL growth is improving. Related Reading: Why Has The Solana Price Been In A Steady Downtrend Since January? On January 6th, nearly $900 million in stablecoin supply entered the SOL ecosystem in a single day. Currently, SOL leads all chains in both 24-hour and 30-day DEX volumes, and has emerged as the top blockchain by market capitalization for tokenized stocks. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana (SOL) is retesting a make-or-break area that could set the stage for a major move at the start of next year. Some analysts have suggested that altcoin’s chart signals a bearish performance for the coming months. Related Reading: Here’s Why Bitcoin Advocate Max Keiser Restates Bullish Outlook For 2025 Solana Faces Another Rejection From Key Resistance After hitting a three-week high of $130 on Sunday, Solana started the week with a 6.1% correction to the $122 area. The cryptocurrency recently breached below its macro support around the $120 zone, hitting an eight-month low of $116 in mid-December. Since then, the altcoin has been trading between the $120-$126 mark, attempting to break out of the local resistance multiple times but ultimately being rejected after each retest. SOL’s price surged around 5.6% toward during Sunday’s broader market bounce, trying to build a base below the crucial resistance level before plunging after the early Monday correction. Amid this performance, market observer Crypto Jobs pointed out that Solana had broken out of a six-week falling wedge, which could target the $144-$146 area if momentum holds and price confirms a retest of the breakout. However, the star-of-week pullback has momentarily sent SOL below the pattern’s upper boundary. Analyst Man of Bitcoin also highlighted that the cryptocurrency had broken above a one-month downtrend line, which suggested an initial move toward the $129-$130 area. The analyst explained that “holding above the broken trendline is key to maintaining upside momentum,” but noted that as long as the price remains below $146, a scenario where price is headed for one more low, around the $100-105 horizontal support, remains likely. Following the Monday rejection, he affirmed that “it could be that wave-4 is already complete. A decisive break below the trendline would confirm this further.” SOL’s Higher Timeframe Chart Shows Troubling Signs Market watcher Elite Crypto affirmed that Solana “doesn’t look very strong” on the higher timeframe, pointing to a multi-year bearish pattern potentially forming on SOL’s chart. According to X analysis, the cryptocurrency has been developing a Head and Shoulder pattern since early 2024, with the neckline sitting around the $105 area in the weekly timeframe. The char shows that left shoulder formed during the Q1 2024 rally, while the head and right shoulder formed during its rally to its latest all-time high (ATH) in Q1 and Q3 2025 breakouts, respectively. “If $SOL loses the $105 support then the price could move down to the $75–$51 range and this phase may last until mid 2026,” the investor detailed, adding that “after this period, the overall trend for SOL can turn bullish and set up a better move ahead.” Similarly, Henry from Lord of Alts suggested that Solana has formed a double top formation with the neckline around the current levels instead of a Head and Shoulders pattern. Related Reading: Bitcoin Nears Red Yearly Close: Galaxy Digital Explains The Setup Per the analyst, “We put in a clean double top, rolled over, and now price is going back toward a zone that’s acted as real support before.” If the altcoin fails to hold the current support, its price could retrace toward the $60 mark, the chart shows. Moreover, he added that SOL’s price could also risk a drop to the $35 area in the coming months as there’s “a big gap below that market hasn’t dealt with yet.” Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
Solana is treading a fine line as price presses against a key technical barrier with momentum visibly fading. Repeated rejections suggest buyers are struggling to force a breakout, yet downside follow-through remains limited for now. With volume thinning and structure unchanged, the next reaction around this level could determine whether SOL’s price trajectory. Structure Stalls As $127 Continues To Cap Upside Speaking in a recent Solana update, crypto analyst Umair Crypto highlighted that the asset’s structural situation remains unchanged from previous discussions. The core issue is that the chart continues to lack the necessary momentum to flip the $127 level into support. Repeated attempts to breach this price point have been cleanly rejected, forcing the price to turn downward and search for the next established area of support. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Loses Momentum—Could Sellers Take Control Again? Given this persistent failure, the analyst believes a brief sweep below the key $120 level looks increasingly likely before buyers attempt another serious push higher. Umair Crypto emphasized that the most crucial aspect of this potential dip will be the market’s reaction and volume response, particularly around key areas like the volume profile and the Change of Behavior (COB) zone. A weak reaction at these lower levels would signal continuation lower, while a strong acceptance and high volume response could set up the next major rotation back toward the $127 resistance. In the meantime, while the immediate risk is to the downside for a liquidity sweep, the $127 level remains the absolute line in the sand that decides the medium-term direction. Until Solana can secure a sustained reclaim of this barrier, the momentum will remain structurally tentative. Solana Presses Channel Resistance As Market Waits Bitcoinsensus pointed out that Solana is now trading right at a critical breakout area, placing the market in a clear wait-and-see mode. Price is pressing against the descending channel resistance, a level that has repeatedly capped upside attempts in recent sessions. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Cools Off After Rally While Market Eyes a Resistance Break Despite hovering near the upper trendline, no confirmed breakout has occurred yet. The structure suggests growing pressure, but price alone has not been enough to validate a bullish shift. As long as SOL remains trapped beneath this resistance, the setup stays neutral rather than decisively bullish. One key missing ingredient is volume. Buying pressure remains relatively light, signaling hesitation from bulls and a lack of conviction behind the current push higher. Without a noticeable increase in volume, any move above resistance risks turning into another false breakout. A clean break above the channel, paired with strong volume expansion, would change the outlook, acting as a bullish ignition for the next leg higher. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana’s price action this year has followed a clear but uncomfortable pattern. After pushing to a new all-time high around the $296 region in January, the rally quickly lost momentum and transitioned into a steady decline that has persisted for months. Many traders have attributed this weakness to a risk-off sentiment across crypto, but a deeper on-chain breakdown shared by crypto analyst Ardi on X suggests the story began well before the January peak and has more to do with who was buying and who was quietly exiting. Distribution Was Already Underway Before The January Peak Solana has been on a clear downtrend since September, when it reached a lower high of around $247 compared to its January 19 all-time high of $293. One of the most important insights from Ardi’s analysis is that Solana’s January all-time high did not mark the start of distribution but rather the culmination of it. Related Reading: Why Has The Solana Price Been Crashing Since October? This Major SOL Player Is Selling The chart attached to his post shows that selling volume was already increasing months earlier, well ahead of October, meaning that large holders were positioning for exits long before price reached its final peak. From that perspective, the January high looks less like the beginning of a new expansion phase and more like the last push of a rally. After that point, price action began forming lower highs, and each rebound attempt lacked the strength needed to reclaim the all-time high. Interestingly, Solana failed to reach a new all-time high, even as other large market cap cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and BNB pushed to new all-time highs during the year. Another interesting feature of the data is the widening gap between retail behavior and that of larger players. Cumulative delta metrics on the chart show that retail-sized wallets have been consistently active throughout the year and are increasing their activity even as Solana’s price moved lower. On the other hand, mid-sized and institutional wallets tell a very different story. Their activity has been trending downward for months, starting from the January peak and extending up until the time of writing. Is Solana’s Price Becoming Dependent On Memecoin Activity? Ardi’s analysis also raises a broader question about what is currently driving demand for Solana. Outside of retail activity on Solana itself, one of the few consistent sources of activity has been the memecoin sector. Successes and booms of meme coins like Cat in a Dogs World (MEW), Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT), and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), which gained traction in the second half of 2024, contributed to Solana’s push to all-time highs during those periods. Related Reading: Will Solana Flip Ethereum? Revenue Numbers Show Disturbing Trend Those meme coin successes culminated with the launch of the Official Trump ($TRUMP) token in January 2025 on Solana, which experienced eye-watering gains shortly after its launch. This, in turn, contributed to Solana’s all-time high in January. However, since then, the TRUMP token and other Solana-based meme coins have been trending downwards in recent months and no longer command the same level of attention or trading intensity they had this time last year. That has led to the view that Solana’s price is increasingly sensitive to the success of memecoins in its ecosystem. At the time of writing, Solana is trading at $121.50, down by about 58.6% from its January all-time high of $293. Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
The story of Solana has shifted from a meteoric rise to a high-stakes battle for relevance. After reaching a historic all-time high in November 2024, the network has struggled to reclaim its former momentum. This loss of momentum reflects technical exhaustion and a market recalibration after an aggressive run-up. Thus, SOL has entered a new phase as investors assess whether fresh demand can emerge or if the network needs a new catalyst to reassert leadership. How Solana Momentum Fades After The November Peak Crypto trader Ardi has revealed on X that market interest has noticeably thinned ever since Solana set its $296 all-time high in November 2024. On-chain data has shown that buying pressure has been dominated almost by the retail-sized wallets, particularly those making purchases between $0 and $1,000. Related Reading: Solana Faces Critical Test Near $100 as Macro Pressure and Network Upgrades Collide Ardi argues that while many observers point to micro conditions to explain the stalled price action, the tape reveals that the distribution has begun before the peak. The selling volume had already been accelerating for months before October 10, signaling that major players were planning their exits long before the drawdown. The data also confirms a massive divergence between demographics. Meanwhile, the mid-sized wallets involving $0 to $100,000, and the institutional-sized wallets involving $100,000 to $10 million in volume have been in a steady downtrend for roughly 13 months. Over the same period, retail wallets have shown a consistent uptrend, and are clearly convinced that SOL is still trading at a deep discount price. This imbalance leads to the ultimate question: Is Solana’s value now intrinsically tied to memecoins? The correlation between SOL’s demand and the memecoin actively on the network has been near-perfect, which means that without the frenzy of the meme sector, most bids would largely be disinterested. What Comes After Memes Will Decide Solana’s Future An investor and trader, Jas pointed out that 2025 has definitely been a reset for Solana, but it isn’t over for the altcoin. SOL active monthly traders have fallen from roughly 30 million to under 1 million, a staggering 97% drop in network activity. The speculative engine was the memecoin boom that fueled its rise and also exposed its biggest vulnerability. Related Reading: Solana at a Breaking Point: Fading Memecoin Hype and Alameda Unlocks Test the $140 Support Zone Furthermore, SOL is down nearly 58% from its yearly high. SOL’s network revenue dropped fivefold year-over-year from $2.5 billion in 2024 to $500 million in 2025. The contrast with Ethereum is hard to ignore, and ETH generated $1.4 billion in revenue this year and outperformed SOL by 56% year-to-date. “SOL’s future may depend less on memes and more on what follows them,” Jas noted. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
The Solana price has shown encouraging signs of recovery, climbing 6% on Friday to approach the $126 mark. This uptick follows a concerning dip below the crucial $120 level, which had sparked fears of a potential downtrend that could drag the cryptocurrency down toward the $100 threshold. Solana Price Gains Ground Chris MacDonald, an analyst at The Motley Fool, recently highlighted two key factors contributing to Solana’s resurgence. One significant catalyst is a proactive initiative by the Solana Foundation. Bitcoinist reported earlier this week that the organization is currently assessing whether its network can withstand potential threats from quantum computing technologies. Related Reading: Bitwise’s 2026 Crypto Forecast: Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Solana Poised For New Record Highs In collaboration with Project Eleven, a security firm specializing in post-quantum cryptography, the Solana team has launched a quantum-resistant testnet following a comprehensive threat assessment. The second notable factor driving the Solana price uptick is the announcement from health and wellness company Mangoceuticals, which revealed plans to allocate $100 million toward acquiring and holding SOL. Despite the positive momentum, experts caution that Solana’s price is currently following a “clean corrective structure.” Moving Averages Signal Downtrend From a technical analysis perspective, the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) is situated around $143, significantly higher than the current trading range, while the 200-day SMA looms even further at approximately $170, suggesting a prevailing downtrend rather than a healthy consolidation phase. In the short term, the 20-day exponential moving average has also rolled over near $133 and has consistently rejected previous attempts at a bounce. Analysts note that until the Solana price can close above the low-$130s for an extended period, any rebounds will likely be seen merely as counter-trend movements. Immediate support lies just below current trading levels at the $125 mark, followed by critical levels in the $121–$120 range, and another demand zone around $110. A more significant downturn could push the price into the high $90s, with projections indicating a potential dip to around $80 if liquidations accelerate further, as NewsBTC reported on Thursday. Related Reading: Crypto Payments Firm MoonPay Set For $5 Billion Valuation With NYSE Owner’s Backing The market has already registered an eight-month low near $116.9. A decisive close beneath that level could likely drag the Solana price toward the psychologically significant $100 mark. On the upside, the Solana price could encounter initial resistance clustered in the $133–$138 range, with stronger resistance observed in higher levels between $144 and $147 that could prevent any new recoveries in the short-term. To facilitate further price recovery, the Solana price will need to clear that second group of resistance levels on a daily close, ideally supported by increased trading volume, to pave the way toward prices between $160 and $165. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
After reaching a new multi-month low, Solana (SOL) is attempting to hold a key high-timeframe level as support ahead of week’s end. Some analysts have suggested that the altcoin is poised to bounce, but others warned that a potential rally could be short-lived. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mirrors Q1 2025 Playbook, Is It Headed To $70,000 Before Year’s End? Solana To Tag Higher Levels Soon On Friday, Solana recovered from the latest drop and surged 7.7% toward the $125 area. The cryptocurrency fell nearly 9% on Thursday afternoon amid a broader market correction, sending its price to an eight-month low of $116. Amid the pullback, SOL’s price breached below a crucial high timeframe level, the around $120 mark, for the first time since April before recovering. Analyst Crypto Batman noted the altcoin “is not only at its major support level, the same one that has held price for the past 2 years.” In addition, the cryptocurrency is also forming a bullish divergence on the 3-day timeframe, “exactly like what we saw before the major bottom” at the start of Q2, the market observer added. To him, this suggests that Solana could bottom soon and see the start of a recovery rally to the macro range highs. However, another market observer affirmed that even if a retest of the higher levels is likely, “context matters here.” Analyst Crypto Scient highlighted that SOL’s price is currently at the range lows of its multi-year range, recording the first retest of this area after being rejected from the range highs. “One could argue SOL has been distributive for nearly two years now. That’s fair,” he explained, “[but] range lows rarely break on the first attempt.” Moreover, Scient pointed out that there’s significant liquidity left between the $175–$190 levels that “should get tagged at some point, even within a broader bearish environment.” As a result, the analyst considers that a “move higher to clean liquidity before any deeper downside would make far more sense.” December Close To Define SOL’s Fate? Analyst Rekt Capital affirmed that the $123 horizontal support remains the “defining level” that Solana must hold to prevent a major breakdown to multi-year lows. He detailed rebounds from this support have historically produced “outsized upside expansions,” with 140% and 100% moves. However, each rebound from this level has been progressively weaker over time, with the most recent bounce only managing to rally 15%. This signals a “sharp deceleration in upside responsiveness at this level,” which is important to consider as the compression in rebound magnitude could affect SOL’s monthly close. According to the analysis, a monthly close above the macro support would keep Solana positioned for a weaker rally, but a close below $123 would substantially change the structure. The second case would suggest that distribution has already started and confirm “how much this support has weakened since the last meaningful rebound that produced a near 2x move earlier this year.” Related Reading: Did Crypto Investors Stop Believing In The Four-Year Cycle? Analyst Weighs In Moreover, it would begin to mirror SOL’s performance in early 2022, when a similar price action preceded “macro relief moves during the opening phase of the Bear Market, including the decisive breakdown that occurred at the turn of that year.” Ultimately, the analyst warned that it remains to be seen whether the altcoin can close December above this crucial level and rebound, or if a breakdown “accelerates distribution sooner rather than later.” As of this writing, Solana is trading at $126, a 3.4% decline in the weekly timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said he still sees a path to Solana reaching $2,500 over a five-to-ten-year horizon, arguing that tokenization plus clearer US regulation could turn Solana into a core financial “rail system.” Scaramucci made the remarks in an interview with SolanaFloor filmed during last week’s Solana Breakpoint conference and released on Dec. 18. Why Solana Is Still Poised For $2,500 Scaramucci framed the $2,500 thesis as a long-duration bet that won’t play out cleanly. “It’s not going to come without… volatility,” he said, pointing to what he called a messy US regulatory year and sticky inflation as headwinds that “probably slowed down our trajectory.” “If you had asked me at the beginning of the year” whether Washington would pass stablecoin legislation and “the market structure, the CLARITY bill,” he said he would have expected both. “That did not happen.” Still, he argued “the timing is still right,” with the caveat that price will likely remain jumpy until those macro and regulatory variables resolve. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Support Shattered, Potential $100 Test Looms, Says Analyst To explain the patience required, Scaramucci leaned on a tech-investing analogy, recalling Amazon’s drawdowns by 90% before mass adoption. The lesson, in his words: stay with “great technology” through uncertain stretches because durable infrastructure eventually gets adopted. Asked what surprised him most this cycle, Scaramucci singled out the Trump and Melania memecoins. He described their Solana launch as “a compliment to Solana” because it was selected for “ability to handle large scale large volume transactions with great certainty and finality.” But he also argued the episode backfired on policy. “I think those coins slowed down the regulatory process in the US,” he said, suggesting that the optics of a US president entering the memecoin business created a political “foil” that opponents could use to resist crypto bills. “I think we would have gotten everything that we wanted this year had the president sort of stayed out of the meme coin business,” he added, calling it “short-term regulatory” damage. He also claimed the memecoin surge “sucked out all the liquidity from a lot of the altcoins,” which he said “hurt the industry,” even as it showcased Solana’s throughput. Tokenization Is The Endgame Scaramucci’s core argument was simple: tokenization is coming, and Solana is positioned to host a meaningful share of it. He said Paul Atkins, whom he described as a longtime personal friend, delivered what Scaramucci considers an underappreciated prediction: “In 5 years all of our assets are going to be tokenized.” Scaramucci then pushed his own conclusion: “What’s going to be the number one rail system to tokenize on? It’s going to be Solana.” He argued superior systems tend to win through adoption, not ideology. “If you have something that works better than something else, it gets adopted,” he said, comparing Solana’s trajectory to the internet’s jump from dial-up to today’s high-bandwidth reality. He also flagged operational progress on the network. “I don’t want to jinx us,” he said, but suggested Solana had gone “two years now without any” downtime. Related Reading: Solana Value Proposition Extends Beyond Tech Into Economic Infrastructure SolanaFloor challenged Scaramucci on why SkyBridge tokenized a $300 million fund on another chain. Scaramucci said it was “a very small fund,” and that a larger fund “will likely get tokenized on Solana.” He also rejected maximalism: “I don’t believe in chain monogamy,” he said. His view is that “three or four chains” will win, naming Solana and Avalanche. He argued Avalanche can be attractive for certain compliance-driven deployments, while Solana is where “stocks and bonds are going to be tokenized” and where “the larger funds are going to be tokenized.” Scaramucci also disclosed his personal positioning: “My largest personal position even greater than Bitcoin is my position in Solana and I have it all staked,” he said, adding he owns Avalanche and Bitcoin and holds a “very small position” in Ethereum. Scaramucci tied the next leg of the cycle to US policy and liquidity. If the US passes market-structure rules next year, he said, prices should respond. If inflation cools and the Fed can cut more aggressively under a new chair, he argued that would add liquidity and reinforce a “positive flywheel.” At press time, SOL traded at $125. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
In the evolving landscape of blockchain technology, Solana has rapidly emerged as a platform not merely defined by its technical capabilities but by its broader implications for economic infrastructure. By enabling the class of decentralized applications, SOL is positioning itself as a high-performance blockchain and a foundational layer for the next-generation economic activity. Why Infrastructure That Enables Continuous Markets In an X post, crypto analyst Vibhu mentioned that Solana is no longer just a piece of financial technology, but a fully functioning economy. What exists on SOL today has gone beyond transactions and smart contracts. Related Reading: Solana Gains Institutional Momentum as New On-Chain Bond Deal and XRP Integration Build Hype According to the expert, there are dollars and native currencies, real-world assets, metals and rare minerals, energy market, information markets, manufacturing primitives, and global trade rails all operating in real-time on-chain. SOL also has politics, governance processes, divided factions, and ongoing debates about the leading network’s future. At this point, we are witnessing the birth of a country that lives entirely on the internet. Measured through economic output, SOL would rank around the 157th largest country in the world by GDP (Gross Domestic Product), comparable in size to nations such as Eswatini or Fiji. However, SOL is globally integrated by default, and from a forex and asset-flow perspective, it punches above its weight, integrating with the largest banks and financial institutions across the globe. Furthermore, SOL has withstood sustained network attacks from nation-state actors, defending itself with systems engineers instead of armies. Economically, SOL is already engaged in trade with countries like Bhutan, ranked 164, the Isle of Man, ranked 154, and even Kazakhstan, which ranks 49 in global economic standings. “Solana is a digital country, and I am proud to be a citizen,” Vibhu noted. Why Real-Time On-Chain UX Finally Works On Solana Solana continues to see key updates and integration that tend to bolster the network capabilities. Co-founder of TeamElevenX1 and Ambassador at Solflare, Kristofer_Sol, has highlighted that MagicBlock is quietly doing some of the most important work in the Solana ecosystem, pushing real-time SOL closer to true production scale. Related Reading: Solana Faces Critical Test Near $100 as Macro Pressure and Network Upgrades Collide At the center of this shift is the deep integration of compressed accounts into the Light Protocol inside Ephemeral Rollups, reducing rent costs by up to 200 times, while still functioning like a normal account for developers. The compression demo is already live, and real applications are actively using it today. Others like Rush Trade deliver faster trades, and Pixels achieve smooth, real-time pixel updates. Kristofer_Sol stated that this is what a scalable on-chain user experience actually looks like. With low-cost reduction and speed improvements happening without forcing developers to rewrite everything, MagicBlock is quietly removing the friction that has held back games, social apps, and consumer products on SOL. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com
Solana (SOL) is gradually entering a new phase of institutional visibility as recent developments in tokenized finance and cross-chain asset integration draw increasing attention to the network. Related Reading: What’s Happening With The Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Dogecoin Prices Recently? From a high-profile commercial paper issuance to plans for bringing XRP onto Solana, the blockchain is positioning itself at the center of experiments that could reshape how digital assets interact with traditional markets. SOL's price trends to the downside on the daily chart. Source: SOLUSD on Tradingview Institutional Activity Accelerates With New Tokenized Bond Deal J.P. Morgan’s arrangement of a $50 million tokenized commercial paper issuance for Galaxy Digital marks one of the clearest signals yet that major financial institutions are warming to public blockchain infrastructure. The short-term debt instrument was issued on Solana, with Coinbase and Franklin Templeton purchasing the tokenized asset, and settlement conducted in USDC. The bank created the on-chain token representing the bond and handled primary settlement, positioning the project as a practical test of how public networks could support regulated financial transactions. The move shows Solana’s growing role in real-world asset tokenization, a sector projected by industry analysts to reach trillions of dollars over the next decade. For Solana, the deal is also a strategic validation. While the chain is widely known for retail and developer activity, institutional adoption has historically been slower to materialize. Seeing a large financial institution test a foundational market instrument on Solana offers a clearer path to deeper enterprise use cases. Solana – XRP Integration Signals Cross-Chain Expansion Alongside the bond issuance, Solana is preparing for the arrival of XRP through a partnership with Hex Trust and LayerZero, which will issue wrapped XRP (wXRP) on the network. The integration aims to extend XRP’s liquidity and utility into Solana’s fast-moving DeFi environment, enabling lending, liquidity provision, and other decentralized applications. Hex Trust confirmed that wXRP will be fully backed 1:1 with native XRP held in segregated custody accounts, supported by more than $100 million in initial liquidity. The addition may also influence XRP’s market structure, as wrapped supply requires native XRP to be locked, potentially tightening liquidity during high-demand periods. For Solana, the asset brings an established user base and deeper liquidity pools. For XRP, the move broadens its utility across high-performance decentralized markets that prioritize low-cost transactions and throughput. A Broader Shift in Market Perception These developments come as industry figures, such as Anthony Scaramucci, publicly reiterate their bullish outlook on Solana, arguing that the network’s growth trajectory could surpass Ethereum’s in market capitalization. While the claim remains speculative, the combination of institutional pilots, cross-chain integrations, and expanding developer activity suggests Solana is strengthening its position as a platform for both consumer and enterprise-grade applications. Related Reading: Do Kwon Falls Hard — Terraform Labs Chief Gets 15 Years For Wire Fraud As more financial instruments move on-chain and cross-chain interoperability gains traction, Solana’s latest milestones point to a network increasingly aligned with where digital markets may be heading next. Cover image from ChatGPT, SOLUSD chart from Tradingview
Anthony Scaramucci showed up to Solana Breakpoint in Abu Dhabi wearing a tie — a small act of rebellion in a sea of hoodies — and then proceeded to make a much bigger one on stage: Solana is going to “flip” Ethereum. Scaramucci’s Solana Prediction Not in the Twitter-war, zero-sum, “ETH is dead” kind of way. More like: same league, different growth curve, and Solana ends up with the bigger market cap. “I think it will flip Ethereum, but that doesn’t mean Ethereum’s going down or anything like that. I think there’s going to be market share for Ethereum. I think they could both grow, but I think from a market capitalization perspective, I think Solana will end up growing faster,” Scaramucci told CoinDesk Live on Dec. 11. That’s been his line for a while. This time it came with a prop: his new book, Solana Rising, which dropped Dec. 9 and — according to Scaramucci — quickly hit the top of Amazon’s “new releases” list for investment management/investment strategy. He framed the book as something for the skeptics, or at least for the friends of the believers. Related Reading: Solana Enters Bear Territory: Realized Loss Now Outweighs Profit The pitch is familiar if you’ve been anywhere near crypto conferences this year, but Scaramucci’s version is unusually blunt: Solana is the fastest-growing chain, it’s stacked with activity, it’s cheap to use, and it’s easy to build on. Then you add staking, and you’ve got what he keeps calling “great tokenomics.” And yes, he’s heavily aligned. “Full disclosure,” he said, “I have a large personal holding in Solana. I have it on the firm’s balance sheet.” How large? On SkyBridge’s balance sheet, he put it at “probably 60%,” with the firm sitting on “north of a nine figure balance sheet.” His personal portfolio allocation, he estimated, is around “6% 7%.” Big, but not “I sold the house for SOL” big. Notably, Scaramucci emphasized that he’s not “chain monogamous.” He likes Avalanche. He likes Ethereum. He’s not doing maximalism. He’s doing a portfolio. “In fact, who is chain monogamous?” he joked. Related Reading: Solana Hits Critical Demand Zone — Is A Surprise Bottom Loading? The Skybridge Capital founder added: “It’s not an amorous thing. It just has to do with the realities of investing. It’s like owning a lot of stocks in your portfolio. But to me, I just think that it is the fastest growing chain. That’s the most activity of like the top 50 chains combined. It’s got lots of use cases, lots of versatility. It’s easy to develop on and it’s very low fees to transact on and it’s got great tokenomics if you want to stake your Solana like I do.” He also pointed to the debut of the first spot Solana ETF in the United States — “first staking ETF,” in his words — as another signal that we’re still early. Then came the price talk, because of course it did. Could SOL hit $300–$400 by the end of next year? “Sure,” he said, tying it to a more constructive US regulatory backdrop — specifically his hope that the CLARITY Act gets passed and unlocks “the full utilization of tokenization.” Longer term, he went bigger: “Is Solana go to $1,000 over the next five years? I really do believe that.” He also revisited Bitcoin. Same vibe: right call, wrong calendar. “I’ve been right about Bitcoin, but I’ve been wrong about timing,” Scaramucci said, sticking with a $150,000–$200,000 target, and arguing a friendlier rate environment next year could help. At press time, SOL traded at $139.14. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Solana has slipped into a crucial demand zone between $118 and $138, a region where buyers must prove they’re still in the game. Early reactions are emerging, but momentum remains weak, raising the big question: Is SOL preparing for one more leg down, or could a surprise bottom quietly be forming beneath the surface? Solana Slides Into A Critical Support Zone Crypto analyst More Crypto Online, in an update shared on X, revealed that SOL has recently dropped into a major support band. This crucial zone stretches from $118 up to roughly $138.30. The analyst emphasizes that this is the exact region where the market must definitively prove that robust demand is still present to prevent further structural decline. Related Reading: Solana Price Faces Critical Test Near $140 While Analysts Track KOL Indicators and Liquidity Shifts While examining the smallest timeframes, the analyst noted that there are indeed early attempts at a reaction developing within this broad support band. However, the expert warns that these reactions currently lack conviction and do not yet display the sustained buying strength necessary to signal a durable reversal. More Crypto Online includes a more bullish possibility, which he labels the “white scenario,” where the broader B-wave correction could finish at any point within this current support region. If successfully confirmed, it would effectively establish a definitive low and open the door for Solana to rechallenge its previous cycle highs by initiating a powerful C-wave rally. However, the core problem preventing a definitive bullish call is that the recovery observed from the recent swing low has not exhibited the characteristics of an impulsive advance. As long as that remains the case, the analyst concludes that a deeper dip is the more realistic path, cautioning traders to prepare for a potential test of levels below the current support range. A–B–C Correction Still In Play For Solana According to More Crypto Online, Solana’s price action continues to mirror the broader structure seen on Bitcoin. The ongoing decline can still be viewed as an A–B–C corrective pattern within the orange scenario, with the final C wave unfolding as a five-legged move. If this interpretation holds, the last leg of the correction still has room to extend further, potentially reaching the $81 to $90 zone. Related Reading: Reversal Loading? Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Solana Build Powerful High-Time-Frame Structures The analyst noted that the current upswing resembles an internal wave 4 rally. Under this outlook, the market could still produce one more low, completing the final leg of the corrective wave before a more reliable reversal structure begins to form. Solana now sits at a key decision point, but the Elliott Wave framework indicates that bearish pressure may not be fully exhausted. Until the structure confirms a shift with impulsive upward movement, the chart still allows for another push lower before a durable trend change can develop. Featured image from Pxfuel, chart from Tradingview.com
The Solana network has seen its validator count crash by more than 68% over the past three years, falling from thousands of active nodes to just around 800. The massive decline in validators has sparked discussions about whether this could become a threat to the blockchain network or a natural pruning of inactive nodes to increase efficiency. Solana loses 68% Of Its Validators In 3 Years A new report from Criptonocias reveals that Solana has experienced a dramatic decline in the number of its validators, active and non-active, since March 2023. This decrease has raised concerns across the crypto community about the network’s overall health and security. Related Reading: Why Has The Solana Price Been Crashing Since October? This Major SOL Player Is Selling Over the last three years, the Solana network has steadily lost validators, going from 2,500 to 2,100 in November 2022 and now hovering around 800. This decline means the blockchain has lost a total of 1,700 validators. Although this considerable decrease should trigger warning alerts, it could be a result of ledger pruning, which involves removing inactive or redundant nodes to streamline a network and improve its performance without compromising security. Notably, validators are crucial for the operation of a blockchain network, as they run nodes, confirm transactions, and help maintain the integrity of the system. Each validator adds to the diversity of the network and reduces the risk of any single entity gaining excessive control. According to the report, some voices in the Solana ecosystem see the reduction of validators in a positive light. They argue that losing “Sybil validators,” which are nodes pretending to be multiple independent operators but are actually controlled by a single party, can be beneficial. Based on this perspective, having a smaller number of reliable and active validators is healthier than maintaining thousands of nodes that do not contribute meaningfully to the blockchain network. Criptonocias revealed that teams such as Layer 33, which develops infrastructure node tools and provides network services for Solana, point out that many of the validators leaving the blockchain are not Sybils but legitimate node operators. This suggests that the drop in numbers does not automatically equate to improved network quality despite widespread talks about ledge pruning. Notably, the potential impact on the Solana network, whether negative or positive, depends on the independence of the remaining validators and the distribution of power among them. An updated report of the validator count reveals that it has dropped again from 800 to 795. Solana Faces Liquidity Crunch As Profitability Declines Amidst its decline in validators, the Solana network is showing signs of strain as liquidity dries up and profitability declines. On-chain data from Glassnode highlights a troubling trend in the network’s trading activity, with the 30-day average realized profit-to-loss ratio remaining below 1 since mid-November. Related Reading: Solana Welcomes Bearish December, But Pundit Shares Possible Move To $170 This level is typically associated with bear market conditions and points to a growing imbalance between gains and losses among traders. A ratio below 1 also indicates that traders are realizing losses more frequently than profits, underscoring the cryptocurrency’s weakening market sentiment. Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview.com