Surging Solana ETF Inflows: Can SOL Prices Stay in Sync?

By: crypto insight|2025/11/21 04:00:09

Key Takeaways

Solana’s exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen substantial inflows despite the coin’s price decline.
The Bitwise BSOL ETF leads the way, indicating robust investor interest and 89% of total inflows.
Price resistance near $140 creates a challenging market environment for SOL.
Future movements depend on key resistance and support zones around $140 and $120.
Investor sentiment contrasts between fear in the market and strong ETF inflows.

Understanding the Rise in Solana ETF Inflows

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have witnessed an interesting phenomenon in the Solana ecosystem. Even though Solana’s native coin, SOL, has undergone a significant price drop from $186 to $130, the capital flowing into Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remains strong. Since the debut of these financial products, they’ve continuously attracted substantial investments.

A Closer Look at Solana’s ETF Landscape

As of November 2023, Solana’s exchange-traded funds have attracted a remarkable $476 million in net inflows. This is all the more impressive given the market’s current state, often steeped in what many describe as ‘extreme fear.’ Notably, the Bitwise BSOL ETF stands at the forefront of this trend, having accumulated $424 million of these inflows, accounting for 89% of the total.

The Role of the Bitwise BSOL ETF

The Bitwise BSOL ETF remains the crown jewel among Solana ETFs, demonstrating an unrivaled pull. On November 19, the BSOL ETF recorded a significant gain of $35 million in fresh net flows. This marks its third-highest daily intake since the beginning of November. Moreover, the arrival of the 21Shares Solana ETF with assets under management reaching $100 million underscores growing institutional interest in Solana.

Market Dynamics and Price Movements

Despite strong ETF inflows, Solana’s price continues to struggle against stiff resistance in the open market. There exists a notable resistance zone around the $140 mark, which, over recent movements, has rebuffed attempts to rally beyond it.

Resistance and Selling Pressure

Attempts to surpass the $140 resistance have been met with intensified selling pressures, barring SOL from consolidating higher. This is evident from futures data, which show that selling activity piles up near the resistance threshold, reinforcing downward pressure. Alongside this, open interest rates in futures have not increased significantly, hinting at a lack of new long positions which could drive prices upward sustainably.

Strategic Price Levels

The interplay between resistance at $140 and support near $120 holds critical implications for Solana’s trajectory. Should the price falter and revisit the $120 support level, the market could experience a deeper correction. Conversely, a robust move above the $140 resistance would likely indicate a rejuvenation of bullish sentiment, potentially leading to upward price rallies.

Investor Perception and Market Sentiment

While market operators observe the current Solana price with caution, ETF inflows reflect a more optimistic investor sentiment. Despite the price slump, capital flowing into ETFs suggests confidence in Solana’s fundamental value and long-term potential. This tug-of-war between bearish price action and bullish investment inflows paints a complex picture of market sentiment.

Conclusion: The Future of Solana in the Market

The narrative around Solana is marked by contrasting sentiments. On one hand, the consistent capital influx into ETFs highlights investor confidence. On the other, price resistance puts a cap on SOL’s immediate potential. Navigating these contrasting dynamics will be key in understanding Solana’s position in the market moving forward.

Understanding Solana requires delving into these market subtleties, where investor optimism in ETF products stands strong against the turbulent price behavior of SOL. This complex relationship underscores the need for investors to balance these factors as they anticipate future outcomes.

FAQs on Solana ETF and Market Movement

What is driving the surge in Solana ETF inflows?

The rise in Solana ETF inflows can be attributed to strong institutional interest in Solana’s underlying technology and ecosystem, despite the coin’s recent price decline.

How does the remainder of the crypto market view Solana’s current situation?

While the general market showcases ‘extreme fear,’ Solana’s ETF inflows suggest that investors have a long-term bullish outlook on the coin, contrasting with current price trends.

What is the significance of the $140 resistance level for SOL?

The $140 resistance level represents a crucial barrier. Overcoming it would suggest a shift in momentum and potentially usher in bullish trends for Solana’s price.

Why is there concern about a deeper price correction for SOL?

Ongoing selling pressure and the market’s struggle to sustain levels above $140 suggest potential for revisiting lower price points, like $120, especially if the market’s momentum fails.

How does investor sentiment reflect on Solana despite price declines?

Investor sentiment is reflected positively through consistent inflows into ETFs, indicating continued belief in long-term prospects despite short-term market volatility.

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has shown strong momentum across multiple dimensions. The mainstream discussion has focused on Coinbase's official entry into the prediction market through the acquisition of The Clearing Company, as well as the intense controversy within the AAVE community regarding token incentives and governance rights.

In terms of ecosystem development, Solana has introduced the innovative Kora fee layer aimed at reducing user transaction costs; meanwhile, the Perp DEX competition has intensified, with the showdown between Hyperliquid and Lighter sparking widespread community discussion on the future of decentralized derivatives.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Coinbase Acquires The Clearing Company, Officially Entering Prediction Market

This week, Coinbase announced the acquisition of The Clearing Company, marking another significant move to deepen its presence in this field after last week's announcement of launching a prediction market on its platform.

The Clearing Company's founder, Toni Gemayel, and the team will join Coinbase to jointly drive the development of the prediction market business.

Coinbase's Product Lead, Shan Aggarwal, stated that the growth of the prediction market is still in its early stages and predicts that 2026 will be the breakout year for this field.

The community has reacted positively to this, generally believing that Coinbase's entry will bring significant traffic and compliance advantages to the prediction market. However, this has also sparked discussions about the industry's competitive landscape.

Jai Bhavnani, Founder of Rivalry, commented that for startups, if their product model proves to be successful, industry giants like Coinbase have ample reason to replicate it.

This serves as a reminder to all entrepreneurs in the crypto space that they must build significant moats to withstand competition pressure from these giants.

2. Kalshi Launches Kalshi Research and Integrates BSC Network

Regulated prediction market platform Kalshi launched its research arm, Kalshi Research, this week, aimed at opening its internal data to the academic community and researchers to facilitate exploration of prediction market-related topics.

Its inaugural research report highlights Kalshi's outperformance in predicting inflation compared to Wall Street's traditional models. Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara commented that the power of prediction markets lies in the valuable data they generate, and it is now time to better utilize this data.

Meanwhile, Kalshi announced its support for the BNB Chain (BSC), allowing users to deposit and withdraw BNB and USDT via the BSC network.

This move is seen as a significant step for Kalshi to open its platform to a broader crypto user base, aiming to unlock access to the world's largest prediction market. Furthermore, Kalshi also revealed plans to host the first Prediction Market Summit in 2026 to further drive industry engagement and development.

3. AAVE Token Incentive Controversy Persists as Founders and Whales Increase Holdings Against the Market Trend

The AAVE community recently engaged in heated debates around an Aave Improvement Proposal (AIP) titled "AAVE Tokenomics Alignment Phase One - Ownership Governance," aiming to transfer ownership and control of the Aave brand from Aave Labs to Aave DAO.

Aave founder Stani Kulechov publicly stated his intention to vote against the proposal, believing it oversimplifies the complex legal and operational structure, potentially slowing down the development process of core products like Aave V4.

The community's reaction was polarized. Some criticized Stani for adopting a "double standard" in governance and questioned whether his team had siphoned off protocol revenue, while others supported his cautious stance, arguing that significant governance changes require more thorough discussion.

This controversy highlights the tension between the ideal of DAO governance in DeFi projects and the actual power held by core development teams.

Despite governance disputes putting pressure on the AAVE token price, on-chain data shows that Stani Kulechov himself has purchased millions of dollars' worth of AAVE in the past few hours.

Simultaneously, a whale address, 0xDDC4, which had been quiet for 6 months, once again spent 500 ETH (approximately $1.53 million) to purchase 9,629 AAVE tokens. Data indicates that this whale has accumulated nearly 40,000 AAVE over the past year but is currently in an unrealized loss position.

The founder and whale's increased holdings during market volatility were interpreted by some investors as a confidence signal in AAVE's long-term value.

4. Top Articles: DeFi Curators and Ethereum Annual Summary

In this week's top article, Morpho Labs' "Curator Explained" detailed the role of "curators" in DeFi.

The article likened curators to asset managers in traditional finance, who design, deploy, and manage on-chain vaults, providing users with a one-click diversified investment portfolio.

Unlike traditional fund managers, DeFi curators execute strategies automatically through non-custodial smart contracts, allowing users to maintain full control of their assets. The article offered a new perspective on the specialization and risk management in the DeFi space.

Another widely circulated article, "Ethereum 2025: From Experiment to Global Infrastructure," provided a comprehensive summary of Ethereum's development over the past year. The article noted that 2025 is a crucial year for Ethereum's transition from an experimental project to global financial infrastructure. Through the Pectra and Fusaka hard forks, Ethereum achieved significant reductions in account abstraction and transaction costs.

Furthermore, the SEC's clarification of Ethereum's "non-securities" nature and the launch of tokenized funds on the Ethereum mainnet by traditional financial giants like JPMorgan marked Ethereum's gaining recognition from mainstream institutions. The article suggested that whether it is the continued growth of DeFi, the thriving L2 ecosystem, or the integration with the AI field, Ethereum's vision as the "world computer" is gradually becoming a reality.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana: Launches Kora Fee Layer and propAMM Data Research

The Solana Foundation engineering team released a fee layer solution called Kora this week.

Kora is a fee relayer and signatory node designed to provide the Solana ecosystem with a more flexible transaction fee payment method. Through Kora, users will be able to achieve gas-free transactions or choose to pay network fees using any stablecoin or SPL token. This innovation is seen as an important step in lowering the barrier of entry for new users and improving Solana network's availability.

Additionally, a deep research report on propAMM (proactive market maker) sparked community interest. The report's data analysis of propAMMs on Solana like HumidiFi indicated that Solana has achieved, or even surpassed, the level of transaction execution quality in traditional finance (TradFi) markets.

For example, on the SOL-USDC trading pair, HumidiFi is able to provide a highly competitive spread for large trades (0.4-1.6 bps), which is already better than the trading slippage of some mid-cap stocks in traditional markets.

Research suggests that propAMM is making the vision of the "Internet Capital Market" a reality, with Solana emerging as the prime venue for all of this to happen.

2. Perp DEX: Hyperliquid vs. Lighter Competition Intensifies

The competition in the perpetual contract DEX (Perp DEX) space is becoming increasingly heated.

In its latest official article, Hyperliquid has positioned its emerging competitor, Lighter, alongside centralized exchanges like Binance, referring to it as a platform utilizing a centralized sequencer. Hyperliquid emphasizes its transparency advantage of being "fully on-chain, operated by a validator network, and with no hidden state."

The community widely interprets this as Hyperliquid declaring "war" on Lighter. The technical differences between the two platforms have also become a focal point of discussion: Hyperliquid focuses on ultimate on-chain transparency, while Lighter emphasizes achieving "verifiable execution" through zero-knowledge proofs to provide users with a Central Limit Order Book (CLOB)-like trading experience.

This battle over the future direction of decentralized derivatives exchanges is expected to peak in 2026.

Meanwhile, discussions about Lighter's trading fees have surfaced. Some users have pointed out that Lighter charged as much as 81 basis points (0.81%) for a $2 million USD/JPY forex trade, far exceeding the near-zero spreads of traditional forex brokers.

Some argue that Lighter does not follow a B-book model that bets against market makers, instead anchoring its prices to the TradFi market, and the high fees may be related to the current liquidity or market maker balance incentives. Providing a more competitive spread for real-world assets (RWA) in the highly volatile crypto market is a key issue Lighter will need to address in the future.

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