Solana (SOL) Faces Market Headwinds as FTX Bankruptcy Estate Set to Unlock 11.2M SOL

Solana [SOL] has faced difficulties over the last few weeks, and the recent bearishness across the market has affected the token.

Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) has been enduring a rough few weeks, with the recent bearishness in the market impacting the token. In fact, the altcoin’s price fell from $256 to $173 in just under a month. That’s a 32% drop, and more could be ahead for one of the market’s top cryptocurrencies.

FTX’s bankruptcy estate is set to unlock 11.2 million SOL on March 1, valued at $1.4 billion, as part of FTX’s asset liquidation plan. Following the exchange’s collapse in November 2022, it sold 41 million SOL to institutional investors like Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, and Figure Markets.

These unlocks could lead to increased volatility and a potential price decrease.

Solana ecosystem drama drives down demand, network activity:鏈上洞察

The launch and subsequent rug pull of the controversial LIBRA memecoin, which was briefly promoted on social media by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, snowballed into a major scandal. The Argentine flagship index S&P Merval fell 5% on Monday, February 17, following the president’s since-deleted memecoin tweet.

The memecoin was not the first to launch on the Solana chain, but it did see Meteora CEO Ben Chow step down from his role leading the DeFi platform.

With all the drama surrounding Solana, it’s no wonder that the network activity took a hit. The number of active addresses is now well below its January lows, reaching levels last seen in October 2024. Now, while this level is still high compared to most of the previous year, the hype and the number of trades in the ecosystem has seen a noticeable decline.

The total transaction fees also fell to its late December lows.

This further hinted at reduced trading activity. However, Solana still remains a strong long-term performer, with its daily revenue being nearly ten times that of Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), despite its total value locked (TVL) lagging significantly behind.

Finally, the price action showed a bearish structure. The $180-level was ceded to the bears, with the price sitting below the Fibonacci retracement level of $175. The bearish price action indicated a potential bounce toward $180-$190.

Whether or not such a bounce occurs, the price is likely to fall toward $157 and lower in the coming days, given its bearish momentum.