Solana (SOL) Keeps Up Its Momentum And Whales Keep Buying the Dip

Solana has spent months trapped inside the same broad trading range, and traders are starting to get frustrated waiting for a real breakout. Solana already recovered a decent amount from the heavy selloff that dragged the token from above $260 down toward the $70 zone, but the market still has not confirmed a larger bullish reversal.

Right now, the SOL price is trading near $86.89 after gaining about 1.02% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin stayed mostly flat during that period, so Solana showing relative strength has started catching traders’ attention again. The issue is that price still cannot break through the bigger resistance area that has capped every recovery attempt for months.

The SOL Price Is Still Trapped Inside the Same Range

We had a look at the Solana chart shared by MCO Global DE, and the bigger structure still looks very range-bound. The market has basically been moving between roughly $72 and $126 for months without establishing a clear trend.

The analysis uses Elliott Wave structure to explain the price action. The large collapse from the 2024 and early 2025 highs is labeled as the major Wave A decline, and the recovery afterward is being treated as a larger B-wave correction.

That matters because B-wave markets usually create a lot of fake breakouts, messy price action, and sudden reversals before the next major move finally develops. 

The SOL price is now caught right in the middle of that range. Resistance between roughly $88.50 and $96 continues stopping bullish momentum every time buyers try pushing higher. Until that level breaks cleanly, traders still see the market as corrective instead of fully bullish.

The support zones have stayed mostly unchanged. The first important level remains near $81.28. Below that, the much larger support region between about $71.92 and $77.96 continues acting as the key area bulls need to defend. As long as the SOL price stays above that zone, the broader recovery structure still survives.

Large Investors Keep Accumulating SOL

Even though the chart still looks uncertain, the activity happening underneath the surface has become harder to ignore. On-chain data showed two newly created wallets accumulated more than $9.7 million worth of SOL from Binance and FalconX on May 21. 

Nansen also reported that the top 100 Solana wallets increased their holdings by nearly 59.95% in a single day. That type of accumulation usually points toward larger players positioning before a bigger move happens.

ETF demand is also helping sentiment around the SOL price. Spot Solana investment products pulled in roughly $39 million in net inflows last week, marking the strongest weekly inflow level since February.

Regulatory clarity improved too after U.S. regulators officially classified SOL as a digital commodity earlier this year. That decision removed part of the uncertainty institutions had been watching for a long time.

Read Also: GROK AI Predicts the Kaspa (KAS) Price if the CLARITY Act Gets Delayed to 2027

Why Traders Keep Watching the Alpenglow Upgrade

Another major reason traders are paying attention to the SOL price is Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow consensus upgrade. The goal of the upgrade is aggressive. Developers want to reduce network finality times from around 12 seconds down to roughly 150 milliseconds. If that rollout works properly, Solana could become one of the fastest major blockchain networks operating at scale.

The network is also preparing additional upgrades like Firedancer and SIMD-0266, both designed to improve validator performance and reduce compute costs. That matters because Solana’s outages and stability problems damaged confidence during previous cycles. Institutions want proof that the network can handle larger adoption without reliability issues becoming a recurring problem again.

Where the SOL Price Could Move From Here

For now, the SOL price still looks trapped between major support and major resistance. If buyers finally push above the $88.50–$96 resistance area with strong volume, traders will likely start targeting the $100 level first, followed by the larger resistance zones near $110 and $120.

If the breakout fails again, another move toward the $81 support zone or even the broader $72–$78 demand region remains possible. At this stage, Solana’s fundamentals are improving faster than the chart itself. The whale accumulation, ETF inflows, and network upgrades all support the longer-term story. The only thing still missing is a confirmed breakout above resistance.

FAQs

What is the Alpenglow upgrade

Alpenglow is a major Solana consensus upgrade designed to reduce transaction finality times from about 12 seconds to roughly 150 milliseconds.

What risks still exist for Solana

Network outages, failed breakouts, broader crypto market weakness, and security concerns remain key risks for the SOL price.