Solana (SOL) Price Retreated Sharply During the Weekend Even as the Network Capped a Record $258 Billion Milestone in January

Solana (SOL) dropped to $210 on Sunday, down by almost 30% from its highest level this year, bringing its market cap to $103 billion.

Solana (SOL) price crashed on Sunday as the cryptocurrency continued to retreat from its year-to-date highs. The SOL price dropped to a low of $210, which was significantly lower than the highest point this year of $295.4.

At last check, the coin was trading at $212, which was still about 30% below its YTD high. Here’s a closer look at what happened:

Solana coin drops sharply

Solana has had a stellar performance in 2023, with its price surging by over 150%. However, the coin has retreated sharply in the past few weeks as part of the broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency industry.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of $98,000 on Sunday while the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies crashed by almost 4% to $3.4 trillion.

Still, Solana capped its most successful month on record. According to DeFi Llama, protocols in the Solana ecosystem handled over $258 billion in volume in January. That’s a record high.

The increase brought the total volume handled in the network to over $969 billion. If the trend continues, expect Solana to cross the $1 trillion milestone in February. After all, it is handling over $40 billion a week.

The biggest players in the Solana DEX ecosystem were Orca, Meteora, and Lifinity and Raydium (RAY), which had a 30-day volume of over $120 billion during the month.

Solana active wallets, meme coins

The number of active Solana wallets dropped to 3.6 million. That’s down from 6.5 million on Jan. 19.

Also, the market cap of all Solana meme coins has slipped to $14 billion from last month’s high of $25 billion.

The daily chart shows that the SOL price has crashed in the past few days. It has retreated from the year-to-date high of $295.4 on Jan. 19 to the current $213, its lowest swing since Jan. 17.

The coin, created by former Qualcomm engineer Anatoly Yakovenko in 2017, has moved below the 50-day moving average and is nearing the key support at $210, its highest level on March 18 last year.

The next price point to watch is $170 — the neckline of the double-top pattern.

Solana ETF hopes: Cboe BZX recently refiled applications for multiple asset managers, including Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital, to launch Solana ETFs.

This marks Cboe’s second attempt after a previous rejection, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission now reviewing the filings under what’s considered to be a more crypto-friendly White House.

The new SEC acting chair, Mark Uyeda, is seen as more supportive of crypto, raising expectations for approval.

Polymarket bettors put Solana ETF approval odds at 57% by July 31, though Bloomberg analysts suggest Litecoin could be next in line.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have already drawn billions, signaling strong demand for crypto investment products. The key question remains: Will regulators embrace more crypto ETFs, or keep altcoins waiting?

Solana’s ‘proof of history’ to make it market leader: At least one expert is bullish on Solana: I/O Fund analyst Knox Ridley.

Solana’s unique “proof of history” protocol will make it a market leader, Ridley says. The blockchain’s PoH enables a high throughput of 65,000 transactions per second without second layers, making it faster and more efficient than Ethereum‘s protocol, proof of stake, which clocks in at a maximum recorded TPS of 62.34, as per Chainspect.