Solana is one of the leading networks, with a market capitalization of over $81 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. Even though cryptocurrency prices are rising and sentiment is improving, SOL is struggling to find momentum.
Solana retraces: will prices exceed $200?
Over the past week of trading, market data shows that SOL is stable, showing a 3% decline over the previous 24 hours. The slide comes as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin advance.
To put the numbers in perspective, Dogecoin is up 22% over the past week. Bitcoin is up 8% during this period, approaching March highs.
As SOL prices retreat from this week’s highs near $185, experts at CoinMarketCap note that Solana’s ecosystem is growing. At the same time, the number of daily active users continues to rise, an indicator of interest.
The uptrend has been strong over the past week. After prices crashed in early September before quickly recovering, the uptrend saw SOL rise rapidly. The coin is up about 50% over the past two months, surpassing $150.
At spot rates, SOL remains in a bullish breakout formation. Even if the retracement pushes the coin lower, local support will be around $150. If buyers find support at this level, it could lay the foundation for further upside, reaching the psychological $200 level.
Solana Price Drivers: Thriving Ecosystem, Institutional Support
Possible growth drivers include Solana’s active ecosystem. Last week, daily active users pink to nearly 7 million. However, as prices fall, that number is now around 5.5 million.
Most users are active coin traders on major decentralized exchanges like Raydium and Jupiter.
In recent months, following the launch of Pompe.fun In January, SOL benefited from tens of thousands of meme pieces going online. Each launch requires SOL to be locked for liquidity, leading to increased demand and higher prices..
While the parts themselves are key to the evolution of Solanathe network also has a decent DeFi ecosystem. DeFiLlama data watch that its protocols manage over $6.2 billion, over 50% of which is stablecoins. Of Solana’s $3.80 billion in stablecoins, more than 69% is USDC.
Top DeFi applications include Jito, a liquidity staking protocol managing over $2.4 billion. Others include Solayer, a liquidity redemption solution, and Ondo Finance, a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform, controlling $275 million and $127 million, respectively.
Beyond the chain’s explosive growth, Solana could benefit from institutional support. Robinhood, a trading platform, recently began offering SOL to EU customers.
At the same time, VanEck, one of the spot issuers of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, released the first exchange-traded note (ETN) in Europe. The ETN will also offer staking rewards.
Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from TradingView
