Solana Holds Near $70 as ETF Inflows Grow Ahead of Alpenglow Upgrade

Solana (SOL) is holding in a tight range in the mid-$70s, with price action flashing short-term weakness even as institutional positioning and on-chain activity point to an increasingly resilient ecosystem. The standoff is drawing attention ahead of the network’s upcoming ‘Alpenglow’ upgrade, which is expected to materially improve transaction ‘finality’ and strengthen Solana’s competitiveness in trading and real-time applications.

As of Sunday ET, Solana was trading at $72.35, down 1.16% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data. The token is down 5.43% over the past week, extending a near-term correction. Solana’s market capitalization stood near $42 billion, with circulating supply at roughly 581.19 million SOL. Trading activity also cooled: 24-hour volume came in at about $1.03 billion, down 20.87% from the prior day, with the vast majority of turnover still occurring on centralized exchanges.

From a technical perspective, several indicators suggest momentum has faded. SOL is trading below its 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) around $75.68, while the 200-day EMA near $92.69 remains a higher-timeframe resistance zone. TradingKey cited a negative MACD (12, 26, 9) reading of -0.667 as consistent with a sell signal, with other short-term oscillators such as Williams %R also leaning bearish.

Market commentators have converged around a cluster of nearby support and resistance levels. FXStreet characterized the setup as ‘mildly bearish’ and highlighted the possibility of a test of support near $71.30. Other regional analyses pointed to $72.27 as an immediate support area, with resistance levels near $79.72 and $92.45. FXEmpire took a more cautious view, arguing that SOL’s failure to reclaim $95 could leave room for a deeper drawdown based on pattern analysis. Weekly RSI, cited near 38, suggests the market is weak but not yet at extreme oversold conditions, while multiple longer-term moving averages between roughly $82 and $121 may continue to cap rallies.

While price trends remain heavy, the institutional narrative has been more constructive. FXStreet reported that spot Solana ETFs posted net inflows of about $14.62 million in July, marking five consecutive weeks of positive flows. German media coverage also indicated that spot Solana ETFs saw inflows across every trading day in July and now manage roughly $1 billion in assets—an eye-catching datapoint given SOL’s steep decline from its January 2025 peak near $294. Still, flows have been uneven at the margin: CoinGecko noted a recent net outflow of around $8.6 million from U.S.-listed spot products, suggesting some short-term profit-taking even as the broader monthly trend remained positive.

Derivatives activity on Solana, particularly in decentralized venues, has also accelerated. On-chain perpetual futures DEX volume reached about $183.2 billion in the second quarter, up 42% quarter-over-quarter, underscoring Solana’s push into high-throughput market infrastructure and intensifying competition with centralized exchanges.

On the ecosystem front, Circle ($CRCL) expanded Solana-based stablecoin liquidity with an additional mint of 250 million USDC on the network, according to reports citing Whale Alert monitoring. Additional USDC supply can support ‘liquidity inflow’ for DeFi and payments, a theme closely watched by traders assessing whether network usage is decoupling from token price weakness.

Network participation metrics have also shown improvement. Local reports cited the number of independent active wallets reaching a seven-month high. Meanwhile, MoneyGram joined Solana’s validator set and developer platform, a move viewed as emblematic of more traditional financial firms engaging directly with network security and tooling rather than limiting involvement to pilot programs.

The next major catalyst on the protocol roadmap is the ‘Alpenglow’ upgrade, targeted for mainnet transition by the end of August, according to an August Solana report referenced in local coverage. The upgrade aims to reduce transaction finality to roughly 150 milliseconds—an aggressive goal that, if achieved, could improve suitability for high-frequency trading, payments, and real-time consumer applications. The mainnet began accepting BLS keys on July 21, a prerequisite for the upgrade, with developers aiming to complete the broader transition by late August.

For now, Solana’s market is sending mixed signals: technicals and trend structure still argue for caution around the $70–$72 region, while ETF demand, stablecoin issuance, wallet activity, and on-chain derivatives growth indicate that institutional interest and network usage remain durable. The result is a period of visible ‘price-fundamentals divergence’—a dynamic that could sharpen as the Alpenglow timeline approaches and investors reassess how much of Solana’s long-term thesis is being priced in.