Solana’s native token, SOL, has fallen 10% between October 1 and October 9 and is currently struggling to hold support at $140. Despite this bearish momentum, SOL’s performance over the past 30 days has been similar to that of the altcoin market, which has seen a modest 4% gain over the same period. To determine if SOL can reclaim the $190 level seen in late July, it is important to analyze the positioning of derivatives traders and the performance of the Solana network relative to competitors, including metrics such as trading volume and deposits. Increased activity could boost demand for SOL, thereby driving prices.

While increased usage of the Solana network does not guarantee an increase in SOL prices, its value is derived in part from expectations of future adoption. When new decentralized applications (DApps) emerge, traders often buy SOL to participate in airdrops and rewards. During this time, Solana’s average daily trading volume has fallen 33% from $1.8 billion in the second half of July to $1.2 billion recently, while competitors such as Ethereum and BNB chains have seen relatively stable or growing trading volumes.

In terms of deposits, the total locked value (TVL) of the Solana network reached 37.7 million SOL on October 8, an increase from 35.8 million SOL a month ago. Although the increase is not large, compared with the decline in deposits on the Ethereum and BNB chains, it shows that Solana's situation is relatively optimistic. Deposits in projects such as Raydium and Jupiter are also growing, showing that DApp activity on the Solana network remains strong.

In terms of derivatives, the funding rate of SOL futures contracts turned negative on October 8, but returned to a neutral level on October 9, indicating that the market's bullish sentiment on SOL remains. Overall, the price of SOL continues to follow the altcoin market, and there seems to be no strong reason to push above $160 in the short term. $SOL