SOL Dips to $95 as BTC, Gold, Silver Selloff — What’s Next?

Solana’s native token, SOL (CRYPTO: SOL) (SOL), faced renewed selling pressure as broader risk-off sentiment swept through markets. The token traded around the $100.30 mark on Saturday, its lowest level since April 2025, underscoring a roughly 18% drop over the preceding 30 days. The move aligned with a wider retreat in altcoins as traders rotated out of higher-beta assets in response to tech-sector headlines, including fresh rounds of layoffs and concerns about AI revenue trajectories. A sharper pullback in silver—down about 26% on Friday—added to the macro headwinds, nudging crypto traders toward caution.

Nevertheless, SOL managed to reclaim the $102 level on Saturday, though sentiment remained fragile after a wave of liquidations in leveraged bullish positions totaled about $165 million. The tone abroad remained nettlesome as geopolitical and macro developments fed risk-averse behavior. In particular, escalating tensions in Iran and fresh corporate cost-cutting measures—Amazon’s disclosure of 16,000 white-collar job eliminations—fueled concerns about global growth momentum and the health of AI-related revenue streams tied to cloud platforms and enterprise software.

Beyond the price action, the narrative around SOL has been tethered to a contrast between price and fundamentals. OpenAI’s footprint within Microsoft’s Azure backlog—reportedly accounting for roughly 45% of the backlog—added to worry that AI-driven demand cycles could decelerate in the near term. Separately, industry whispers that Nvidia may scale back OpenAI funding suggested potential headwinds for AI-enabled computing demand. The Information reported that OpenAI could face up to $14 billion in net losses in 2026, a scenario traders weighed against SOL’s on-chain activity metrics.

On the technical side, Solana’s network activity painted a different picture from the price slide. In the last 30 days, on-chain activity remained a bright spot relative to peers. Fees on the Solana network surged, with a rise of about 81% above the trend according to data from Nansen, while active addresses increased roughly 62% and daily transactions climbed to around 2.29 billion. By comparison, the Ethereum ecosystem—counting layer-2 transactions—registered roughly 623 million transactions in the same window, and base-layer fees rose by only about 11%. The result was a continued dominance in DApp activity and a growing billing pressure on data processing—important mechanics that support staking yields and long-term holder incentives on Solana.

Industry watchers also noted a shift in speculative leverage. The annualized funding rate on SOL perpetual futures plunged to -17%, signaling a rare absence of bullish leverage as traders prioritized cash and short-dated safety assets. This dynamic occurred amid broader political debates over US government funding, with the Senate approving a funding package and sending the measure to the House for a Monday vote as lawmakers navigated a two-week stopgap to fund the government after ongoing disputes over DHS funding and immigration enforcement.

From an investment-flow perspective, SOL-related ETF activity offered a mixed read. Spot Solana ETFs saw net outflows of around $11 million on a single Friday, according to CoinGlass, while some corporate treasury holders continued to adapt their reserve strategies in response to market volatility. Against this backdrop, several listed companies using SOL as part of their balance-sheet strategy traded meaningfully below net asset values, underscoring the disconnect that can emerge between on-chain activity and traditional equity markets during periods of macro stress.

Solana’s near-term trajectory remains tethered to a delicate balance of macro signals and on-chain fundamentals. A sustained improvement in global growth indicators, a easing of geopolitical frictions, and a cooler risk environment could encourage a reversion in leveraged bets and support a healthier price dynamic for SOL. Yet the immediate horizon remains murky, with AI demand expectations, regulatory developments, and cross-asset liquidity still shaping the risk appetite that drives capitalization in the Solana ecosystem.

Overall, Solana’s price action is diverging from some of its on-chain indicators, a hallmark of markets oscillating between fear and fundamentals. The network’s fee growth, address expansion, and high throughput suggest a framework for continued use cases and decentralized application activity, even as the price remains sensitive to broader macro waves and sector-specific AI narratives that have trended negative in recent weeks. The confluence of robust on-chain signals with a cautious price environment is not unique to Solana, but the degree of resilience in network activity relative to price softness has drawn careful attention from traders and researchers tracking the liquidity and demand dynamics of programmable blockchains.

Why it matters

The gap between on-chain fundamentals and price performance matters because it highlights how blockchain networks can sustain activity and even expand usage while wind-downs in traditional risk assets compress valuations. For SOL holders and those considering exposure, the structural signals—rising fees, increasing active addresses, and a large pool of daily transactions—signal continued demand for data processing and staking opportunities, which can underpin a longer-term thesis even amid near-term headwinds.

Additionally, the broader macro and geopolitically charged narrative—ranging from US budget debates to corporate layoffs and AI market dynamics—shows that crypto markets remain sensitive to risk sentiment, policy signals, and the health of tech-enabled revenue streams. The divergence between SOL’s on-chain metrics and its price movement underscores the importance of looking beyond spot prices to understand network health, developer activity, and the potential for a future re-rating if macro conditions improve and liquidity returns to risk assets.

What to watch next

• Monitor US political developments on the funding package and potential impacts on risk appetite (date: upcoming House vote).
• Watch for changes in OpenAI/AI-related spending and Microsoft Azure backlog dynamics, which could shift demand expectations for AI infrastructure providers.
• Track SOL on-chain metrics: daily transactions, active addresses, and fee distributions, as these could indicate a resurgence in DApp activity.
• Observe ETF inflows/outflows for SOL and related investment vehicles as institutional interest shifts in response to macro stimuli.

Sources & verification

• Nansen data on 30-day fees, active addresses, and transaction volumes for SOL and other blockchains.
• TradingView data for SOL price movements and comparative altcoin market capitalization.
• Laevitas data for SOL perpetual futures funding rates.
• CoinGlass reported SOL ETF net outflows and related corporate reserve usage.
• Reports on US government funding debates and the related timing of House votes.

This article was originally published as SOL Dips to $95 as BTC, Gold, Silver Selloff — What’s Next? on Crypto Breaking News – your trusted source for crypto news, Bitcoin news, and blockchain updates.