Is a Big Bounce Ahead?

Market sentiment for Solana (SOL) is at the most negative levels seen in a month, according to data gathered by the on-chain intelligence platform Santiment.

Investors are expressing more bearish sentiment about the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap; however, Santiment says this may be a signal for an incoming price jump.

Solana Sentiment Plunges to Monthly Low

The last time SOL investors were this bearish about the cryptocurrency was around January 20, when the asset’s value fell to $232. Since then, the coin has fallen more than 30% to $161, per data from CoinMarketCap. From its January 19 high of $293, SOL has plummeted more than 45%.

Solana’s plunge to its three-month low price of $161 triggered frustration among investors and traders, with market participants comparing the asset’s latest performance to a similar pattern seen during the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX collapse in November 2022.

Market analysts have attributed SOL’s price dump to the current state of the meme coin sector. Solana is the leading network for creating and minting meme coins, and the blockchain has played a huge role in the execution of several pump-and-dump schemes over the last 30 days. It has come to light that insiders have pulled over $200 million in liquidity from meme coins launched on the Solana network this year alone.

As SOL’s price continues to plummet, activities on the network are also declining. CryptoPotato reported earlier this week that Solana’s decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume fell to $2.61 billion on February 16, a level not seen since mid-December 2024. This metric has been on a downward trajectory for the past five weeks.

SOL May Experience a Bounce

Although SOL had risen 2% daily at the time of writing to $169, the Solana community is still wary about the asset’s price trajectory in the coming days, especially as market pressures do not appear to be easing up. About 11.2 million SOL, worth over $1.89 billion at current prices, is set to be unlocked and released into the market on March 1, possibly adding to selling pressure on the asset.

Regardless, Santiment believes SOL could experience a big bounce in the coming weeks because the market often moves in the opposite direction of the crowd’s expectations.

“While discussion rates are extremely high and crowd sentiment is bearish, this is historically a signal that there is a high bounce probability,” the market intelligence firm stated.