Solana (SOL) slipped to $221 at press time, down 3.9% in the last 24 hours after failing to hold above $230. The move follows a quick retrace from this week’s $238 high and a break below the 100-hour MA near $225. Near term, traders are watching $218–$212 as the first support band (deeper bids near $210–$215), while $230–$235 caps rebounds, with a heavier $245–$250 supply zone above. If bulls reclaim $230 on strong volume, momentum could re-target $245; a daily close below $212 risks a slide toward $200. Despite the dip, SOL continues to print higher-lows on the multi-week trend, keeping the broader uptrend viable. $2.8B Annual Solana Revenue Supports Fundamental Strength Beyond price, Solana’s fundamentals are flashing green. A new analyst report tallies $2.85 billion in annualized on-chain revenue over the past year, $240 million per month on average, peaking at $616 million in January during the memecoin frenzy. Trading platforms are the flywheel, contributing 30% ($1.12B), with apps like Photon and Axiom at times generating $260M in a single month. Thanks to sub-$0.01 fees and high throughput, Solana’s revenue run-rate has outpaced Ethereum’s early-cycle trajectory and coincides with 1.2–1.5 million daily active addresses. DeFi metrics back the story; $13B TVL, 6x YoY growth in stablecoin volumes, and >$500M in tokenized RWA activity signal of durable, non-speculative usage. Upcoming performance upgrades (e.g., Firedancer) aim for dramatic latency and throughput gains, reinforcing the network’s moat for high-frequency DeFi. Institutional Access, SOL ETFs, and the Q4 Setup Institutional participation is also expanding on multiple fronts. Public balance sheets reportedly hold $4B in SOL, while staking-enabled trust products and pending U.S. spot SOL ETF applications (from issuers including Fidelity, VanEck, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and Bitwise) could unlock the next leg of demand. Several filings face October deadlines, and prediction markets handicap a very high probability of approval by year-end. In the near term, price may remain choppy as leverage resets across crypto, but Solana’s revenue scale, user growth, and pipeline of upgrades provide a sturdy backdrop. For traders, the roadmap is straightforward: hold $218–$212 to preserve the bullish structure; flip $230, then $245, to revive momentum. For long-term investors, the multi-billion-dollar revenue milestone and rising institutional rails keep the $300+ debate alive once risk appetite returns. Cover image from ChatGPT, SOLUSD chart from Tradingview
