Solana's SOL Token Rebounds 36% Amid Crypto Market Crash

Solana’s native token, SOL, experienced a significant rebound, rising 36% from its recent lows following the broader crypto market crash. Despite this recovery, SOL remains 57% below its all-time high, a decline partially attributed to a sharp decrease in decentralized application (DApp) activity on the Solana network. However, analysts point to the growth in deposits on the Solana network as a potential catalyst for sustained price increases in the near term.

Solana has solidified its position as the second-largest blockchain by total value locked (TVL), with $6.9 billion. This achievement comes after a 12% gain over the seven days ending April 16, allowing Solana to surpass competitors such as Tron, Base, and Berachain. Positive indicators include a 30% increase in deposits on Sanctum, a liquid staking application, and a 20% growth on Jito and Jupiter.

Solana’s decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes have also shown impressive performance. In the seven days ending April 16, trading activity on Solana DApps totaled $15.8 billion, surpassing the combined volume of Ethereum scaling solutions by more than 50% during the same period. This trend was supported by a 44% increase in volume on Pump-fun and a 28% rise on Raydium, while volumes declined on the three largest Ethereum DApps—Uniswap, Fluid, and Curve Finance. A similar trend was observed on BNB Chain, where PancakeSwap, Four-Meme, and DODO saw reduced volumes compared to the previous week.

Beyond DEX performance, other DApps on the Solana network have also shown growth. For instance, Ondo Finance tokenized a total of $250 million worth of assets on the Solana network. Exponent, a yield farm protocol, doubled its TVL over the past 30 days, and the yield aggregator platform Synatra experienced a 43% jump in TVL during the past week.

Analysts are optimistic about the potential approval of a Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States by 2025. However, expectations for significant inflows are tempered by a general lack of interest from institutional investors and the recent poor performance of similar Ethereum ETF instruments. If approved, the spot ETF could bolster Solana’s presence, especially if the US government’s Digital Asset Stockpile plans materialize.

Investors are awaiting the full audit of US federal agencies’ crypto holdings, initially expected by April 7. However, the executive order signed on March 7 did not require the findings to be made public. Regardless of whether SOL appears on that list, there are currently no plans from the government to acquire cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin (BTC).

Currently, there are few catalysts to justify a rally to $180, a level last seen 45 days ago on March 2. Without external factors causing a large influx of new participants into the crypto ecosystem, the increase in TVL and DEX market share alone is unlikely to push SOL’s price to outperform the broader market.