Why is Solana (SOL) price down today?

Solana’s native token, SOL (SOL), is down 3% on Dec. 19 amid significant corrections across the broader crypto market. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows SOL trading at $210, 20% below its $264 all-time high reached on Nov. 24. 

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SOL/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Let’s look closer at the factors driving SOL price down today.

Marketwide sell-off weighs down SOL price

Solana corrects alongside other cryptocurrencies, which have also dropped, triggered by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments about 2025 economic outlook. 

Bitcoin (BTC) is down 2.7% in the past 24 hours, while top tokens and midcaps recorded their worst losses in recent weeks following a sharp drop during the late New York trading hours on Dec. 18. Ether (ETH) has dropped more than 4.6% over the last 24 hours to trade at $3,675.  

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24-hour performance of top-cap cryptocurrencies: Source: Coin360

Other top-cap cryptocurrencies, including BNB Chain’s BNB, XRP (XRP), and Dogecoin (DOGE) have also posted significant losses over the last 24 hours. Avalanche (AVAX), posted the largest daily losses among the top-cap cryptocurrencies, down 8% today. 

Similarly, the total crypto market cap has dropped by 3.8% over the last 24 hours to rest at $3.53 trillion at the time of publication.

The drawdown in crypto prices comes after the Fed announced a 25 basis point rate cut to its benchmark policy rate. It was Powell’s post-rate cut comments that triggered panic selling as indicated that only two more rate cuts would occur in 2025.

The Fed committee also raised their 2025 inflation outlook from 2.1% to 2.5%, adding to what market participants view as a hawkish outlook.  

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Source: The Kobeissi Letter

Regarding Bitcoin’s reserve asset status, Powell said that the US central bank has no desire to be involved in any government effort to stockpile Bitcoin.

“We’re not allowed to own Bitcoin,” Powell said, adding that the Fed is “not looking for a law change” that would allow them to hold BTC. 

Powell’s comments shook the prices across the market, which have rallied sharply along with Bitcoin since Donald Trump’s victory in Nov. 5 US Presidential Election in prospects of a more crypto-friendly administration.

Decreasing TVL on Solana

Solana’s total value locked (TVL) has been in downwtrend over the last week. Data from DefilLlama shows that Solana’s TVL has fallen by 4.5% over the last seven days, from $9.37 billion on Dec. 12 to $8.9 billion at the time of publication.

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Solana total value locked. Source: DefiLlama

This drop in TVL has occurred in tandem with the decrease in SOL’s price, which is more than 9% down over the same period.

Taking a closer look at Solana’s TVL decrease, several layer 2 protocols, such as Jito and Sanctum, have posted substantial losses in total value locked over the last seven days, contributing to the drop in the value of the underlying network.

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Top blockchains: percentage change in TVL. Source: DefiLlama

The declining TVL reflects traders’ fading interest and could be a sign that Solana struggles to attract new users despite its lower traction costs.

This is also evidenced by a decline in onchain activity within the Solana ecosystem, according to the data provided by Dune dashboard pump.fun. Today’s SOL price drop was preceded by a sharp drop in the number of network transactions.

The amount of daily transactions on the Solana blockchain has nearly halved since Nov. 20, as shown in the chart below.

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Solana’s deployed transactions performance chart. Source: Pump.Fun

This indicates suppressed network activity and less overall user interaction with the platform resulting in lower revenues from fees. 

Additional data from Dune reveals a sharp reduction in Solana’s daily revenue, which currently stood at 5,391 SOL (~$1.13 million) on Dec. 18, down from a year-to-date high of 55,832 SOL (~12 million) on Nov. 23.

SOL’s market structure hints at a retest of $150

SOL’s price action in the daily timeframe has painted an inverted V-shaped pattern, as shown in the chart below. The supplier congestion zone between $215 and $230 is acting as an area of stiff resistance on the upside. Note that this is where the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) currently sits.

The relative strength index (RSI) has dropped below the 50 mark, asserting the sellers’ dominance in the market. The bears now focus on the immediate support zone between $190 and $200, embraced by the 100-day EMA and later the 200-day EMA around $175.

Losing this level would likely see SOL price drop toward the neckline of the prevailing chart pattern at $130. A daily candlestick close below this level will confirm the continuation of the downtrend, with the next logical move being to the psychological level at $150.

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SOL/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

On the upside, holding above $200 would signal the inability of the sellers to extend the downtrend. If this happens, SOL could rise above the $215 and $230 supply zone and later to the pattern’s high at $264, invalidating the bearish outlook. 

Popular crypto analyst Jelle remains optimistic about Solana’s ability to recover from the downtrend and into price discovery.

“Solana formed a falling wedge into what used to be resistance and confirmed it as support,” the analyst said in a Dec. 18 post on X.  

According to Jelle, the price is “about to come back to life” and break out of a falling wedge after forming higher lows on lower timeframes.

“Still believe this one is back in price discovery before Christmas. Bring on $300.”

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SOL/USD chart. Source: Jelle

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.