Solana has emerged as one of this market’s top performers, outpacing Bitcoin and narrowing the gap with Ether. SOL traded near $211 on Monday, a roughly 33% gain from early August lows, and has risen about 34% against BTC over the past month.
Analysts say the move reflects a broader rotation into altcoins as investors take profits from large-cap positions. Sergei Gorev, head of risk at YouHodler, noted that liquidity is shifting out of BTC into second-tier tokens and that capital flows into SOL have picked up, putting the token on many institutional radars alongside XRP.
Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca, argues SOL could follow the same playbook that powered Ether’s dramatic rebound earlier this year. ETH rallied nearly 200% since April after fresh stablecoin demand, big ETF inflows and steady buying from digital asset treasuries (DATs) pushed price momentum higher.
The Solana ecosystem already has some institutional plumbing in place. The first U.S.-listed Solana ETF launched in July (futures-based), and several asset managers including VanEck and Fidelity have filed for spot Solana funds with decisions expected later this year. Separately, at least three Solana-focused DATs are raising capital that, if deployed, could channel up to $2.65 billion into SOL over the next month.
Because Solana’s market capitalization is roughly one-fifth of Ethereum’s, equivalent inflows can have a proportionally larger price impact. “If ETH rose almost 200% on roughly $20 billion of new demand, what do you think happens to SOL on $2.5 billion or more of new demand?” Dorman wrote.
Recent developments add to the narrative: Galaxy Digital tokenized its shares on Solana, and the network’s Alpenglow upgrade promises improved transaction speed and finality — both factors that can support institutional use cases and liquidity.
Risk reminder: these scenarios are contingent on execution and market conditions. Spot ETF approvals, actual deployment of DAT capital, broader crypto market trends, regulatory moves and network reliability all influence outcomes. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
What to watch next: decisions on spot Solana ETFs, announcements from DATs about fund closes or deployments, and short-term price behavior around key levels. Source: CoinDesk. Read the original coverage for full details.