Solana (SOL) Price Nosedives Close to 20% in Under 24 Hours to Reach the Lowest Point in 2025

Solana prices took a tumble on Monday, February 24, breaking through the $150.00 level and then extending losses as multiple bearish developments combined to fuel declines.

Solana (SOL) prices crashed on Monday, dropping below the crucial $150 level and continuing to slide as several bearish factors combined to drive down the value of the cryptocurrency.

The native digital asset of the high-performance Solana platform reached a low of $137.77 at around 6 p.m. EST on Monday, according to Coinbase data from TradingView. At this point, it had lost nearly 20% in less than 24 hours, after rising to nearly $170 the night before, further Coinbase figures from TradingView show.

When asked about the factors contributing to Solana’s recent price decline, analysts pointed to a range of different variables.

“Solana’s recent price drop below $150 can be attributed to several factors, including the upcoming March 1st token unlock, which will release around 11.2 million SOL tokens, increasing selling pressure,” Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund manager BitBull Capital, said in a statement to Blockworks via email.

These digital assets will be unlocked as part of the bankruptcy proceedings for collapsed exchange FTX, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in late 2022. Smaller amounts of these tokens will be unlocked on April 1 (12,700 units) and May 1 (73,700 units), creating additional downward price pressure.

Alex Lin, cofounder and general partner at venture capital firm Reforge, also commented on these developments in a statement to Blockworks via email, writing that “a looming token unlock event of ~11mn SOL tokens, valued at $1-2bn (depending on SOL price) is scheduled for Mar 1, 2025.”

“This anticipated increase in supply, along with future unlocks in April and May (albeit smaller), may be prompting the market to sell preemptively, fearing dilution and downward pressure on SOL’s value,” he added.

Several market observers highlighted the sharp decline in activity that the Solana network has suffered recently.

“On-chain evidence suggests the declining active daily addresses show an exodus of activity from users,” Armando Aguilar, an independent cryptocurrency analyst, said in a statement to Blockworks via email. “According to data from the Block, active addresses declined from 5.7M to 3.5M over the last four weeks."

“As a result, DEX volumes have been hit and fees on Solana have declined as seen on Raydium vs fees a few weeks ago,” Aguilar added.

“Another major point to notice is that Solana’s stablecoin transfer volume went from a high of ~$395B to just over $7B and solana application revenue went from a high of $58.4M on January 20th to $4.5M on February 23rd,” he continued, citing data from Blockworks Research.

Some analysts also highlighted the broader declines that digital currencies have been suffering recently. At the time of this writing, seven out the top 10 cryptocurrencies listed on CoinMarketCap were in the red over the last 24 hours, with major stablecoins USDC and tether being largely unchanged.

“The broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market, along with negative funding rates indicating a higher number of investors betting against SOL, has also contributed to the drop in price,” said DiPasquale.

Lin also spoke to these widespread declines, writing that “Solana is joined by several other assets that are taking a significant hit due to macroeconomic variables.”

“Further, he emphasized how the mindset of investors has taken a hit lately, claiming that “there is a broader bearish sentiment across the market.”

Another major development cited as contributing to Solana’s recent declines is a handful of unfortunate events that have taken place recently, including the quick rise and fall of a token called LIBRA, which managed to rack up a value of more than $4 billion but then lost over 90% of its value.

Lin spoke to this situation, as well as others, writing that “another factor could be tied to specific events impacting Solana’s ecosystem that occurred earlier this month, suggesting a decline in network activity and trust, potentially linked to high-profile scams or rug pulls associated with tokens launched on Solana.”

“For ex., the $LIBRA launch crashed from a $4.6bn market cap to <$100mn, draining liquidity from Solana’s memecoin market,” he clarified.

“Following the Bybit hack reported several days ago, the NK Lazarus Group behind the incident leveraged Solana memecoins to launder the $1.4bn, further eroding confidence,” Lin added.

Some of the market experts who offered input for this article singled out some key technical levels for Solana’s SOL token.

“Solana has also been having a rough time since hitting all time high of ~$295 and has officially broken down below $154 support,” the