Sol Price Capped At $140 As Altcoin Etf Rivals Reshape Crypto Demand

SOL struggles to extend its gains as declining activity, falling leverage demand and competition from newly launched spot altcoin ETFs challenge Solana’s price rebound.

Falling DEX volumes, muted ETP flows and macro uncertainty are pressuring SOL prices and limiting appetite for bullish positions.

New spot ETFs for rival altcoins increase competition, though expected government stimulus could reignite demand for Solana.

Solana’s native token SOL (SOL) dropped 6% after getting rejected at $147 on Thursday. Investors became more risk-averse following the release of weak US job market data and soft consumer sentiment.

Traders worry it may take longer than expected for SOL to revisit the $200 mark, especially after leverage traders were wiped out in October and November, while Solana network activity continues to decline.

Solana’s total value locked (TVL) fell to $10.8 billion from $13.3 billion two months earlier. Several of the ecosystem’s top projects, including Kamino, Jupiter, Jito and Drift, saw deposit declines of 20% or more. Adding to the pressure, trading activity on Solana decentralized exchanges (DEX) also dropped sharply.

Even so, Solana kept its position as the second-largest network by TVL. Ethereum, however, remained dominant with $73.2 billion in deposits. Its layer-2 ecosystem—featuring Base, Arbitrum and Polygon—continues to attract meaningful capital. Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade on Wednesday improved scalability and wallet management, reducing incentives for users to migrate funds to competing networks such as Solana.

Solana DEX volumes reached $19.2 billion in the seven days ending Nov. 30, a 40% drop from the $32 billion recorded four weeks earlier. With reduced onchain activity, investors fear weaker demand for SOL, creating a potential feedback loop as traders leave the Solana ecosystem in search of better opportunities. The newly launched layer-1 blockchain, Monad, for example, posted $1.2 billion in DEX volumes during its first week.

SOL traders also reacted to a report from Global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, citing 71,321 corporate layoffs in November, a level seen only twice since 2008. Further uncertainty arose from the consumer financing sector after multiple US State Attorneys General offices requested details from “Buy Now, Pay Later” providers regarding consumers’ ability to repay those loans.

A PayPal survey showed that half of shoppers plan to take personal loans during the holiday season, raising c

Source: CoinTelegraph