• Solana has been on an extraordinary run for the past couple of weeks that has seen it top $60 after a mouthwatering 500 percent rally in 2023.
• Solana (SOL) investors remain cautious of the next price trend with FTX reportedly selling its stash of SOL tokens.

Solana (SOL) has gained more than 35 percent in the last 7 days. This pushes its yearly gains by more than 500 percent. As SOL marked its yearly high of $68 a few days ago, it was clear that the digital asset is not only a favorite among institutional investors but retail investors as well.

As CNF earlier reported, SOL has been a favorite among institutional investors. Ethereum and Solana have contributed to an impressive $767 million in 2023, overtaking the entirety of 2022’s institutional inflows which stood at $736 million. This growth marks the best performance since the 2021 bull market.

Read More: Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) Drive Crypto Fund Success, Marking Best Performance Since 2021: CoinShares

Supporting the narrative that SOL has witnessed increased institutional interest, is shares of the Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) hitting a premium of nearly 900 percent to the spot SOL held in each share. Market leaders such as ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood have hailed Solana, highlighting its superiority to Ethereum. In an interview with CNBC, she suggested that Solana might dominate Ethereum, “Ether was faster and cheaper than bitcoin,” Wood said. “Solana is even faster and cost-effective than Ether.”

At the time of press, SOL has retraced and is trading for $58 after a nearly 10 percent drop in the last 24 hours. Some analysts have identified signs of a bearish reversal. On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain has highlighted a significant rise in SOL deposits in exchanges.

One large holder has recently unstaked 505,034 $SOL ($31.7M) and transferred 505K SOL ($31.7M) out, most of which was deposited to Binance and Kraken. Such deposits indicate intent of selling and are not only a sign of a bearish sentiment but actively increase supply which without matching demand leads to price drops.

In addition, there are still concerns about the large stash held in the now-defunct FTX crypto exchange and its associated companies such as Alameda Research. According to some observers, FTX has sold 6,986,554 SOL in the past few weeks, for around $280.2M. With the stash running out and the market seemingly absorbing the tokens fairly positively.

Although the token has impressed for the last couple of weeks, the digital asset still has a long way to go to reach its all-time high of $260 achieved nearly 2 years ago. In fact, at the time of press, the token is down by 77 percent. Given the institutional interest, the network upgrades, and continued adoption, investors are fairly confident that the token will reach and surpass these highs.

Analysts like Raoul Pal remain optimistic about Solana’s future, predicting significant gains during the next crypto bull market. $75 billion asset manager, VanEck, says SOL might be the next big thing and may surge to $3,211.

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