Transaction dominance, not price strength, now defines the Solana (SOL) market narrative.
According to TokenTerminal data, it processes approximately three times as many daily transactions as Ethereum (ETH) L1 and all L2s combined. This scale makes Solana a leader in high-throughput execution.
Source: JetonTerminal
Additionally, data showing around 285 million daily transactions and 3,300 TPS explains this advantage. Therefore, the ultra-low processing and fees structurally enable such volume.
Therefore, user engagement increases, which is reflected in 2.6 million active addresses. This activity strengthens Solana’s appeal for DeFi trading, payments and high-frequency applications.
However, the composition of transactions is important. Voting transactions inflate the totals, while users’ actual TPS remains lower. Success rates close to 40-50% also highlight congestion and robot-driven demand.
As such, Solana’s leadership in throughput accelerates ecosystem adoption and liquidity velocity, although optimizing reliability remains critical to supporting long-term network growth.
Solana usage versus value
Solana’s transactional dominance does not fully translate into proportional monetary throughput. The network processes approximately 86 million non-voting transactions daily, while generating approximately $622,000 in on-chain fees.
In contrast, Tron (TRX) produces around $948,000 per day despite lower activity, with stablecoin transfers leading to more consistency in fees. Solana’s ultra-low costs, averaging between $0.003 and $0.007 per transaction, enable massive scale but remove protocol capture.
Source: DeFiLlama
However, value formation is moving to the application layer. Solana records approximately $7.57 million in total fees paid, with $6.66 million coming from apps.
However, Ethereum exceeds this figure, generating approximately $18 million in total fees and $11.7 million in app revenue. It also captures stronger protocol value near $107,000 thanks to burns and MEV.
Thus, while Solana leads in terms of execution volume and application dynamics, Ethereum and Tron maintain deeper monetization efficiency, highlighting a structural gap between scale of use and monetary capture.
Whale Liquidation Signals Increasing Selling Pressure
Despite leadership in execution, economic weaknesses invite volatility. Whale behavior now reflects stress related to capital positioning. The wallet deposited 60,000 SOL, worth $4.42 million, into Binance through progressive transfers.
Two deposits of 30,000 SOL alone totaled $4.82 million in a few hours. The previous tranches – 20,000, 19,900 and 1,180 SOL – pushed cumulative FX inflows above 100,000 SOL.
Source: OnChainLens/X
This streak follows an initial withdrawal of 111,945 SOL, worth nearly $17.16 million, initially allocated for staking. The return flow made about $9.78 million, locking in a loss of $7.38 million, or about 43%. These staged deposits are often intended to reduce slippage during liquidation.
Meanwhile, realizing losses on this scale introduces localized selling pressure, reinforcing defensive sentiment as SOL trades near post-pullback ranges.
Final Thoughts
- Solana’s trading supremacy drives adoption and liquidity velocity, but ultra-low fees limit the protocol’s revenue, creating a structural gap between usage and value capture.
- Increasing whale liquidation and realized losses add near-term selling pressure, reinforcing defensive sentiment despite Solana’s growing execution leadership.
