Solana (SOL) has slipped below $160, hit by investor anxiety ahead of a major token unlock from FTX. On February 24, SOL fell over 8.20%, touching $148.46, its lowest level this year. It hasn’t managed to recover since and is currently trading around $156.
The drop comes as 11.2 million SOL tokens, worth about $1.77 billion are set to be unlocked on March 1. These tokens are linked to FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, and the fear is that a large portion could be dumped into the market, pushing prices down further.
Investor confidence in Solana is dropping. Solana has lost 35% of its value in the past month, including a 13% dip just last week. Its market cap has shrunk by $10 billion, now sitting at $78 billion. Trading activity on Solana-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) is also down by nearly 37%, showing that investors are pulling back.
Meanwhile, big traders seem to be bracing for more downside. Data from Amberdata shows that put options, bets on the price dropping, accounted for 25% of all Solana-related derivative trades last week. This indicates that big investors, known as ‘whales,’ are bracing for additional losses.
What follows, depends on the market’s response to these freshly unlocked tokens. If too many of them hit exchanges at the same time, it could hit SOL’s price once more. But if demand is sufficient, and buyers come in, it could stabilize or even recover. With March 1 on the horizon, all eyes will be on the market to see what happens.
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