Solana (SOL) served as something of a herald for the latest cryptocurrency bull market as it enjoyed a particularly sharp rally in late 2023 and early 2024, taking it from about $20 to above $200 – 900% increase in just six months.
The blockchain itself enjoyed much activity and inflows thanks to numerous meme coins – another major staple of the cycle – finding their home on SOL.
Still, more recent trading hasn’t been kind to Solana, and it suffered a 41.17% fall from January 19 highs at $286.81 to its press time price of $168.72. Simultaneously, the 30-day 39.16% drop ensured SOL is at its lowest level in more than three months.
Picks for you
In terms of market capitalization, the price drop ensured Solana wiped approximately $50 billion within a single month.
Solana plummets as crypto market struggles to sustain momentum in 2025
Part of the decline can be attributed to the overall lackluster performance in the cryptocurrency market since 2025 started, and particularly after President Donald Trump reentered the White House as the previous anticipatory hype subsided.
Indeed, other prominent digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC) have been stagnating as BTC, for example, is up 1.89% year-to-date (YTD).
A massive drop in the volume transferred to the network also accompanied Solana’s price performance – from $2 billion in November to $26 million by November 17, as the on-chain analyst Ali Martinez reported on X.
Simultaneously with the 98.7% volume drop, short positions rocketed with a ratio compared to the ‘longs’ topping that of all other prominent digital assets, per the data provided by the trading analysis platform Coinalyze on February 18.
At least a part of SOL’s woes can be traced back to the chain’s popularity among meme coins. Specifically, such cryptocurrencies have frequently been used by bad actors in the community for different types of scams.
The most recent example had a shocking twist as the meme coin LIBRA used in the ‘pump and dump’ scheme was shared – and thus ‘pumped’ – by Argentina’s president Javier Millei.
Why Solana could still rally in 2025
However, it is noteworthy that price drops – even if sharp and large – are frequently terminal for major cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin, for example, returning from its 2021 and 2022 fall from $67,000 to $16,000 and Solana itself recovering from the collapse from $250 to $10 near the same time.
In this case, SOL’s drop could present an opportunity to ‘buy the dip’ as a pattern analyst known as Trader Tardigrade on X estimated on February 18 that as long as the token remains above $162, its next target stands as high as $280.
Featured image via Shutterstock
