Solana (SOL) has experienced a turbulent few months, with its market cap down 67% from the $249 peak on September 18, 2025, and social dominance dropping below 0.4% daily, according to Santiment report.
A topic of great interest with over 6% social dominance, the network is now less hyped and more scrutinized. The fall in the market value of crypto since Q4 2025 is an added pressure, but SOL, too, has some unique issues of its own.
In January, Solana client maintainers asked validators to upgrade to Agave/Jito v3.0.14 because two serious issues were discovered. One issue caused validator nodes to crash, while the other may have impacted vote processing and consensus.
The patches were released promptly, but issues with coordination among validators raised concerns about availability, transaction finality, and the security of decentralized finance applications.
On the other hand, there were discussions about rollback mechanisms, node stability verification, and retrying transactions. New initiatives, such as Zora migrating its “attention markets” product from Base to Solana and costing around 1 SOL per creation, further increased the complexity.
While some people viewed this as an indication of confidence in the network, others wondered about the appropriateness of the timing.
Read More: Solana (SOL) Accumulation Rises Despite Shorts and Social Activity Decline
Remembering Solana’s Highs and Lows
The network has always been a place of big moments, funny tokens, and popular NFT drops. Whether it was Okay Bears and Degenerate Ape Academy, Bonk airdrops, or Metaplex Candy Machine v1 launches, the Solana ecosystem was once fueled by rapid and frenetic innovation.
Even the controversies, such as network downtimes, celebrity memecoin mania, and trading drama surrounding Mango Markets and LIBRA, contributed to the distinct culture of Solana.
However, such huge gains have been lost as prices dropped, and many long-term investors wish for Solana’s earlier, more chaotic days.
Although market sentiment is not as hot as it was before, the network is still attracting new projects and experiencing daily growth. This indicates that its underlying advantages, such as fundamentals, utility, speed, and interest, are still in good shape.
Signs of Recovery Amid Weak Momentum
Solana is seeing resistance in the low $100s after breaking below previous support levels. The RSI is in the low 30s, which indicates it is oversold. The funding rates on exchanges are very negative, which means there are many short positions.
Although these short positions drive the price down, large liquidations after falling below $100 indicate there may be short-term rallies, as has been seen in other altcoins during periods of negative funding rates.
The reliability of the network is a major concern. A disruption on February 4, 2026, briefly caused traffic to move away from Europe and Asia.
Read More: Solana Futures Flip Bearish as Revenue Hits 4-Month Low