Solana’s SOL token is struggling to hold the $80 support level as trader sentiment sours. Data indicates a 75% drop in futures open interest and persistently negative funding rates, signaling a stark lack of bullish leverage. The network’s decentralized application revenue has also hit a multi-month low, with heavy reliance on retail-driven memecoin activity contrasting with Ethereum’s more institutional and DeFi-focused ecosystem.
Solana’s native token, SOL, has repeatedly failed to break above $89 after a rejection at $145 in mid-January and a drop to $67.60. Demand for bullish leverage has evaporated as traders brace for more pain, with those betting against SOL paying an annual rate of 20% to keep short positions open.
SOL underperformed the broader crypto market by 11% over the past 30 days. Futures open interest has dropped 75% from its $13.5 billion high seen five months ago.
This price slump is hurting decentralized applications built on Solana, reducing revenues across staking, exchanges, and lending platforms. Weekly dApps revenue on Solana dropped to $22.8 million, the lowest since October 2024, with the memecoin launchpad Pump accounting for 40% of that total.
In comparison, weekly DApps revenue on Ethereum totaled $16 million, up 2% from the previous month. The top revenue-generating DApps on Ethereum are Sky, Flashbots, and Aave—key infrastructure players for decentralized finance.
Weak institutional demand is visible in SOL exchange-traded funds, with Solana’s $2.1 billion in ETF assets under management still 86% behind Ethereum’s $15.8 billion. Many investors have lost confidence that demand for Solana DApps will spike soon, likely a side effect of the heavy hype around memecoins and launchpads.
Presently, weak SOL derivatives and onchain metrics are a warning sign. Any further disappointment may trigger another price drop, putting the already shaky $78 support level at serious risk.
