Solana ETF Hopes, Rising Fundamentals Are Driving SOL Prices Higher, Traders Say (2024)

Increased transactional activity and booming expectations of a possible exchange-traded fund (ETF) product may have contributed to Solana’s recent outperformance, several market observers told CoinDesk.

Solana’s SOL tokens have gained over 18% in the past week, outpacing larger cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), to trade over $180 early Monday, setting a new three-month high.

Some market observers said SOL gained as trading activity on Solana-based applications grew in the past few weeks, boosting fundamentals.

“The Solana ecosystem is showing robust growth, evidenced by increased DEX activity, rising daily active users, and growing fee accrual to the network,” shared Pat Doyle, a blockchain researcher at Amberdata. “These strong fundamentals, coupled with the positive market sentiment, are pushing SOL forward.”

Data tracked by DefiLlama show that the total value locked (TVL) of tokens on Solana has increased over 25% in a month, crossing the $5.28 billion mark to levels last seen in April 2022. The network has made at least $1.5 million each day since June while netting over $2 billion in on-chain trading volumes each day for the past week.

Solana’s key appeal among traders is its fast settlement speeds and low fees. That's been the basis for meme coin trading frenzies several times in the past year.

In comparison, Ethereum, the world’s largest blockchain by TVL of $60 billion, recorded smaller volumes at $1.7 billion, but higher fees at $3 million because it's more expensive for users.

Easing regulatory policies are adding to SOL’s appeal among professional investors, said Rennick Palley, founding partner at crypto venture fund Stratos.

“The recent pump is due to overall market sentiment improving and increasing odds that it and its ecosystem tokens won't be viewed as securities by the Trump admin,” he said, referring to Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s apparent crypto-friendliness in pre-election speeches.

“The upcoming ETH ETF launch is helping as well – SOL appears poised to be the next token with an ETF, which, given its relatively small size and strong price performance, would be extremely bullish,” Palley added.

In early July, the Cboe submitted 19b-4 filings with the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) asking to list VanEck's and 21Shares' potential spot Solana ETFs, which were initially filed in late June.

SOL trades at nearly $180 in European morning hours Monday with a 3.5% over the past 24 hours, beating the broad-based CoinDesk 20’s 1.3% rise.