- SOL’s price surge could be linked to the upcoming launch of Solana’s second smartphone.
- BONK, which was closely linked to Solana Saga late last year, rose 1.33% over the last 24 hours.
The market hasn’t exactly reacted the way participants would have hoped for since spot Bitcoin [BTC] ETFs were cleared for trading last week.
The global crypto market has slipped 1.1% over the week, with most top assets remaining subdued, according to CoinMarketCap.
Inasmuch, Solana [SOL], which saw meteoric gains during the last quarter of 2023, dropped 5% since the start of 2024.
However, things changed dramatically for the altcoin in the last 24 hours, as the fifth-largest asset lifted more than 4%. SOL’s trading volume also surged by nearly 25%, indicating greater demand for the coin in the market.
Source: CoinMarketCap
This could be the catalyst
This surge could most likely be linked to the upcoming launch of Solana’s second smartphone. The new mobile phone will be cheaper than its predecessor, Saga, and is expected to be shipped in the first half of 2025.
With the new phone, Solana looks to capitalize on the jump in sales of Saga mobile late last year, bolstered by the airdrop of BONK tokens.
The meme coin ended 2023 as one of the biggest market gainers, with an unreal 944% surge in price. The exponential surge led investors to chase a 30 million BONK airdrop that came with every device.
Interestingly, the value of the airdropped BONK tokens was greater than the cost of the cellphone itself.
BONK meanwhile rose 1.33% over the last 24 hours, possibly reacting to the news of the launch.
SOL’s performance in the derivatives market
Despite SOL’s average performance in the spot market lately, fresh money continued to move into its derivatives markets. According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of Santiment’s data, the Open Interest (OI) jumped 8% over the week.
Source: Santiment
Additionally, the Funding Rate on Binance continued to be positive, implying a dominance of bullish leveraged traders.
How much are 1,10,100 SOLs worth today?
The year ahead
Solana scripted one of the best comebacks ever in the history of cryptocurrencies in 2o23, increasing its holders’ investments by nine times.
Also, several of the analysts that AMBCrypto spoke to talked about a high possibility of SOL becoming the third-largest crypto asset by market cap in 2024.