Solana shows strong growth in usage and institutional demand, yet SOL price continues to trade sideways as it struggles to clear major resistance.
Solana has remained under price pressure despite clear growth across its network. Trading activity and user numbers continue to rise, showing steady demand for the blockchain. Institutional interest has also picked up through new product filings. Even so, SOL’s price stays capped as the market waits for a clear breakout.
SOL ended December 2025 trading around $120, a level that has acted as a floor after earlier declines. Buyers later pushed prices toward the $145-$147 zone, where gains were again capped.
Repeated rejections near this range have kept the token locked in a bearish channel, limiting short-term upside even amid recovery attempts.
However, on-chain activity remains strong even as the price of SOL struggles to move higher. Reports indicate that Solana-based decentralised exchanges processed about $1.6 trillion in trading volume in the past year. This level of activity pushed Solana ahead of many major centralised venues by volume.
Adding to this solid on-chain activity, users have also actively adopted the network over the past year. Just days into the new year, active addresses have gone up from 1.8 million to 2.2 million. Generally, growing active addresses often point to increased patronage by industry participants.
Image Source: DeFiLlama
Data from mid-December showed the network moving toward surpassing Ethereum in annual revenue for the first time. High activity from decentralized apps and stronger institutional use of stablecoins drove most of the growth.
In addition, USDC integrations supported this trend and expanded real-world usage. Settlement flows connected to Visa added momentum and highlighted Solana’s role in payments.
On 6 January 2026, Morgan Stanley filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two new cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds. One proposal featured a Solana Trust alongside a Bitcoin product.
This filing became the first major retail ETF proposal from a large bank tied directly to SOL, highlighting ongoing institutional interest in the project.
Even with the recent rise in activity and institutional interest, technicals indicate that SOL is still moving sideways. At the time of writing, the asset was hovering around $137 after a 10% weekly jump. Still, the coin is yet to break above its December high of $147.
Experts predict that SOL could resume its northbound climb if it flips the $147 resistance. On the other hand, sellers could claim the upper hand if it breaks below the $128 support level.
Looking longer term, the 200-day simple moving average near $172.86 remains a key barrier. But buyers would need to push above this level to regain control of the broader trend.
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