Solana Surges 8% to $203 as Cathie Wood Compares Hyperliquid to Early-Stage SOL

Solana Surges 8% to $203 as Cathie Wood Compares Hyperliquid to Early-Stage SOL - Blockchain.News

Solana (SOL) rallied 8% in the past 24 hours to reach $203.44, as ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood compared perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid to Solana’s early growth, saying it could be a project to watch in the decentralized trading sector.

The cryptocurrency’s price jumped from $201.68 earlier today to a current price of $202.57 USD, extending its recovery from recent support levels around $200. Trading volume surged to $3.4 billion in the past 24 hours, reflecting heightened investor interest following Wood’s remarks.

Market Context Shows Mixed Signals

Solana is facing a hard time getting on board with other crypto coins, having fallen by almost 15.54% in the last 7 days. Despite today’s gains, the price of SOL has decreased by 5.88% within the last month, eliminating a whopping average sum of $11.86 from its current value.

The broader cryptocurrency market has experienced significant volatility, with $160 billion in crypto market losses impacting investor sentiment. The short-term outlook for SOL remains bearish as long as it trades below $200, with possible retests of $186–$181 support by October 10, 2025, if selling persists.

Technical Analysis Points to Critical Levels

On the weekly timeframe, Solana appears bullish. The 50-day moving average is below the price and rising, potentially acting as support. The 200-day moving average, rising since 09/03/2025, supports a sustained trend.

Key resistance levels to watch include:
- $174 – $260 range projected for the next 30 days based on technical analysis
- A decisive close above $220 would be required to flip sentiment bullish again and target $235–$240
- $250 represents a key resistance zone where Solana has made several attempts to break above

Currently, the RSI value is at 34.59, which indicates that the SOL market is in a neutral position, suggesting neither overbought nor oversold conditions.

Strong Fundamentals Support Long-Term Growth

DeFi TVL (USD) on Solana grew 30.4% QoQ to $8.6 billion, maintaining its position as the second-largest DeFi ecosystem after Ethereum. More recently, Solana’s DeFi TVL reached an all-time high of $13.38 billion, representing an 18% increase in just one week.

The network’s activity metrics remain robust:
- Daily wallet activity averaged around 1.3 million, with a major milestone recorded on January 18, 2025, with over 2.6 million unique wallets interacting in a single day
- 2.61 million active addresses engaging with the network in a single day
- Solana achieved a major milestone by becoming the first major blockchain to process 100,000 TPS on its mainnet

Institutional Interest Drives Treasury Accumulation

Institutional players are already taking positions. Companies like Bit Mining, Upexi, and DeFi Development Corp together hold over 3.5 million SOL, worth more than $591 million. Traditional companies like Upexi and Kitabo have allocated $16.7M and $5.6M to SOL, in August 2025.

From July 14 to July 20, DeFi Development Corp acquired over 141,000 SOL, valued at nearly $28 million. At the same time, Bitcoin miner BIT Mining revealed plans to raise $300 million to further grow its SOL holdings.

Expert Commentary Highlights Hyperliquid Comparison

“It’s exciting. It reminds me of Solana in the earlier days, and Solana has proven its worth and is, you know, there with the big boys,” Wood said in an interview on the Master Investor podcast.

ARK Invest’s public funds currently hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana as core positions, with the firm also holding some derivative positions, such as Uniswap and protocols tied to Solana.

Wood did not disclose any exposure to Hyperliquid but noted that competition among decentralized exchanges is intensifying. Her remarks came shortly after rival DEX Aster launched a token that drove its volume and open interest above Hyperliquid’s.

Outlook: Key Catalysts and Price Targets

Looking ahead, several factors could influence Solana’s price trajectory:

The Alpenglow upgrade, expected late 2025 or early 2026, will finalize blocks in about 150 milliseconds and simplify Solana’s consensus process. Solana’s 500K TPS throughput and $8.9B DeFi TVL in H1 2025, combined with ETF approval prospects, continue to attract institutional attention.

Price predictions from analysts vary widely:
- According to 7 reputable experts, Solana price predictions for 2025 range from $200 to $1,000, averaging $500
- If the market favors the bulls, the Solana coin price could breach its current all-time high and head toward a new high of $400
- Solana touched $294.16 which was marked as its all time high. The same number can be expected to appear on the charts again by the end of 2025.

Solana is poised for steady gains heading into late 2025, buoyed by increasing DeFi adoption, NFT market activity, and institutional engagement. While short-term price swings may persist, the medium to long-term outlook remains positive. With growing institutional interest and ecosystem expansion, many traders are considering SOL for long-term portfolios.

Image source: Shutterstock