Solana News Today: Institutional Selling and Liquidity Woes Undermine Solana's ETP Push

The launch of the first U.S. spot Solana exchange-traded products (ETPs) in October 2025 has sparked a debate over whether Solana's institutional ecosystem is lagging behind Ethereum's, as treasury-linked firms in both ecosystems face renewed selling pressure. While Bitwise's Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) attracted $55.4 million in trading volume on its debut—surpassing analyst Eric Balchunas' estimate of $52 million—the broader market for Solana (SOL) has struggled, with the token trading below $200 amid sustained weakness in corporate holdings, according to a TradingView report.

The performance of Solana treasury firms has drawn particular scrutiny. Analyst Ted Pillows highlighted that companies holding Solana, such as Sol Strategies and Forward Industries, have seen prolonged declines, mirroring the token's price action in a Blockonomi analysis. "Solana treasury firms are performing worse than Ethereum's, with no strong bidding pressure to stabilize the market," Pillows tweeted, noting that institutional selling has eroded balance sheet strength across the sector. This contrasts with Ethereum, where treasury-linked entities like SharpLink (SBET) have recently seen renewed interest from analysts, including an "Outperform" rating from Bernstein, according to Yahoo Finance.

The divergence in institutional behavior may reflect broader market dynamics. While Ethereum's treasury firms have historically benefited from staking yields and corporate buybacks, Solana's ecosystem has faced challenges in maintaining liquidity. Reliance Global Group's recent addition of Solana to its treasury holdings—joining Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP—signals cautious optimism, but the move has yet to translate into sustained price momentum, according to a Bitget report. Meanwhile, the debut of Solana ETPs, including Grayscale's $GSOL, has not provided the same tailwinds as Ethereum's spot ETFs, which generated $1.08 billion in trading volume in July 2024, according to TradingView.

Market participants are also watching on-chain activity. A large transfer of 1.1 million SOL by Jump Crypto to Galaxy Digital, speculated to be part of a BTC rotation, further pressured sentiment, contributing to an 8% drop in Solana's price on October 30, 2025, according to a CoinDesk report. This comes as Ethereum treasury firms also show signs of fragility, with some companies reportedly offloading holdings amid broader crypto market consolidation, as noted by Blockonomi.

Despite the challenges, proponents of Solana highlight its institutional appeal through products like BSOL, which stakes 100% of its assets and charges a 0.20% fee—lower than competing funds, according to a Morningstar report. Bitwise's Matt Hougan called the ETF a "huge" opportunity, citing Solana's 7%+ staking yields and institutional demand for blockchain exposure, per a Benzinga interview. Yet, with SOL trading at $186.33 as of press time, analysts argue that meaningful recovery in both price and treasury firm valuations will require renewed buying from corporate entities, according to Blockonomi.