TLDR
- SOL dropped 15% after being rejected at $98 on May 11, now trading around $85
- Perpetual futures funding rates flipped to -3%, signaling bearish sentiment
- Solana DEX weekly volume fell 56% since January, from $25B to $11B
- Rivals Hyperliquid and Base are capturing market share from Solana
- Analyst Ali Charts warns a channel break could push SOL toward $78
Solana’s native token SOL has dropped sharply after failing to break above $98 on May 11. The token has since fallen around 15%, trading near $85 at the time of writing.
The price dipped as low as $83.35 before stabilizing. SOL is currently trading below its 100-hourly simple moving average, with a bearish trend line forming at the $85 resistance level on the hourly chart.
Crypto analyst Ali Charts posted on X that SOL failed to break above the top of its trading channel at $98. The analyst warned this could trigger a retest of the channel bottom near $78 — a key level traders are now watching closely.
Solana $SOL failed to break above the top of the channel at $98, which could trigger a retest of the channel bottom near $78. https://t.co/9l5eeZqCwg pic.twitter.com/PBgMWrUTw3
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) May 18, 2026
Immediate resistance sits at $85, with the next level at $85.80. A more meaningful barrier is at $88.50, which aligns with the 50% Fibonacci retracement of the recent move down. If SOL breaks below $82, the next support zone is $80, and below that $75.
Futures Funding Rate Flips Negative
SOL perpetual futures funding rates fell to -3% on Tuesday, down sharply from +8% on Saturday. Under normal market conditions, this rate sits around +9%. A negative reading signals that traders are paying to hold short positions, reflecting excess bearish demand.
Demand for bullish leverage has largely dried up since SOL slipped below $90 over the weekend.
DEX Activity and Network Revenue Drop
Solana’s decentralized exchange volumes have dropped 56% since January. Weekly DEX volume now stands at $11 billion, compared to $25 billion at the start of the year.
DApp revenue on Solana has also declined, dropping from roughly $35 million per week in January to around $20 million per week now. The top revenue-generating apps on Solana are Pump, Axiom Pro, Phantom, and Jupiter, which together hold about 65% of the network’s DApp market share.
Despite the decline, Solana held on to second place in total value locked (TVL) at $5.9 billion, ahead of BNB Chain at $5.5 billion and Base at $4.5 billion.
Hyperliquid has emerged as a direct competitor through its dominance in perpetual contracts. The Ethereum layer-2 Base is also gaining ground through its integration with the Coinbase ecosystem.
An analysis posted by X user lukecannon727 flagged potential volume spoofing on PreStocks, a synthetic asset platform on Solana. The analysis found that 1,600 addresses accounted for nearly 63% of volumes on the platform, with patterns consistent with either arbitrage or inflated activity.
SOL currently trades near $85, with traders watching the $82–$83.50 range as near-term support.
