The bigger picture says Solana barely moved this week, gaining 1% as its price increased to $137.
TL;DR
- Solana is up 1% to $137, TVL drops to $7.07 billion
- CME prepares to launch Solana futures contracts
- Solana makes it to the U.S. strategic crypto reserves
- Metamask adds support for Solana
- Solana re-establishes its dominance in the NFT space
Introduction
The bigger picture says Solana barely moved this week, gaining 1% as its price increased to $137. But the week was more exciting than that, as the wild volatility reminded us of classic crypto moves—up today, down bad tomorrow.
Another Trump pump was on the menu, too. President Donald Trump sent Solana flying on March 2 with a 27% gain when he named it alongside a few other cryptocurrencies in the U.S. crypto strategic reserve announcement.
However, the Solana pump was followed by a 24% meltdown when Trump gave the go-ahead on Mexico and Canada tariffs.
Away from the trade wars, Solana made a long stride toward institutional adoption as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group announced that it would launch Solana futures contracts on March 17, pending regulatory approval.
Additionally, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has listed the first Solana-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Volatility Shares Solana ETF (SOLZ) and Volatility Shares 2x Solana ETF (SOLT).
And APEX, a regional Solana Summit, is taking Solana to Africa, with the event to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 28.
Solana Numbers the Last 7 Days
Source: CoinMarketCap
- Price: $137, up <1%
- Market cap: $69.44 billion
- DeFi TVL: $7.074 billion
- Daily active addresses: >4.2 million
- 24H trading volume: $8.78 billion
Solana has finally put the brakes on its slump with less than a 1% gain. It capitalized on the U.S. crypto reserve prospects to explode from $140 to $178 before erasing all the gains a day later. Easy come, easy go in the Trump Era, it seems.
The network's number of active addresses rose 17% to 4.8 million and the total value locked (TVL) declined to $7.074 billion.
Source: Artemis
The DEX volume has finally ended its losing streak with an 11% gain, reaching $19.3 billion.
Source: DeFiLlama
Raydium is still reeling from Pump.fun's AMM ambitions as its trading volume suffered a 20% loss. Phoenix led with 121% gains, while Pump saw a 32% decline.
Source: DeFiLlama
How Did Solana Stack Up Against Its Competitors?
It was a week of extreme pumps and dumps, but Solana came out unscathed. Ethereum (ETH) took a hit, dropping 12%, while Cardano (ADA) climbed 30%. XRP saw a solid 15% rise, but BNB and Bitcoin dipped, making for an eventful week in the market.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Ethereum's TVL dropped below $50 billion for the first time since November 2024. Solana's $6.73 million app revenue (24H) crushed the competition but Tron leads in fees (24H) with $2.09 million, while SOL is at $1.49 million.
Source: DeFiLlama
Solana Ecosystem the Last Week
Solana's ecosystem market cap fell 6% this week to $637 billion while the trading volume followed the same pattern, sliding 9%.
Source: CoinMarketCap
- Grass (GRASS) had an impressive week, gaining nearly 40% as Solana's ecosystem tokens were bleeding.
- On the opposite end, Lido DAO (LDO) tanked 25%.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Top Gainers:
Top Losers:
- Lido DAO (LDO): -25.76%
- Jito (JTO): -15.84%
- Raydium (RAY): -15.53%
- Pyth Network (PYTH): -15.38%
- Uniswap (UNI): -14.59%
Solana DeFi
Solana's DeFi TVL is down 2% this week. Despite this slide, it fared better than Ethereum and Bitcoin which lost 9.17% and 9.75% respectively.
Source: DeFiLlama
- Ethereum still calls the shots in the DeFi space, accounting for 52% of the total value locked.
- Solana maintains its second place and has to fend off the challenge from Bitcoin.
Source: DeFiLlama
Solana Meme Coins
- This week, Fwog (FWOG) stole the spotlight, soaring 80%, while most of Solana's meme coins took a hit with double-digit losses. A wild ride for the meme coin scene!
Source: CoinMarketCap
Top Gainers:
- Smoking Chicken Fish (SCF): +66.75%
- Daddy Tate (DADDY): +57.02%
- Peanut the Squirrel (PNUT): +34.28%
- RETARDIO (RETARDIO): +17.31%
- Billy (BILLY):+13.48%
Top Losers:
- FWOG (FWOG): -27.61%
- Moo Deng (MOODI): -18.32%
- Goatseus Maximus (GOAT): -15.62%
- hehe (HEHE): -14.81%
- Official Melania Meme (MELANIA): -14.37%
Solana DePIN
Source: DePIN Scan
- Grass (GRASS) is once again the best-performing asset in Solana's DePIN ecosystem, with Aleph.im registering 24% losses.
NFTs
- Solana has recaptured its NFT crown from Polygon by claiming 27.3% of NFT users.
- Polygon has slipped to third place while Ethereum claims second place.
Source: NFT Pulse
Top 5 Solana News Stories
Pump.fun Sees Drop in Token Graduations as Meme Coin Frenzy Fades
Pump.fun, a Solana-based meme coin launchpad, has experienced a sharp drop in token graduations as the recent meme coin frenzy fades. Tokens graduate when their market cap hits $100,000 and are listed on Raydium with added liquidity.
New launches have also dropped 80% from their peak.
MetaMask To Integrate Solana Support
MetaMask will soon add support for Solana and Bitcoin, enhancing its user experience with these popular blockchains. This update is part of the wallet’s ongoing product improvements planned for this year.
Virtuals Protocol Sees 97% Revenue Drop as AI Agent Demand Slows
Virtuals Protocol, an AI agent platform, has experienced a dramatic 97% drop in revenue as demand for AI-driven virtual entities fades.
Its daily trading revenue plummeted from over $1 million in January to under $35,000 by February.
Trump Adds Solana to U.S. Strategic Crypto Reserve
Solana rallied following President Trump's announcement of a U.S. strategic crypto reserve, alongside ADA and XRP. However, the digital assets saw a sharp profit-taking dip one day later.
CME Group To Launch Solana Futures Contracts
CME Group is set to launch Solana futures contracts on March 17, offering both micro and standard-sized contracts.
What You Can Do Now
- Re-evaluate your meme coin trading strategies as token launches drop.
- Watch out for scams as Metamask expands to Solana.
- Stay up to date on the hottest crypto narratives as interest in AI-driven virtual entities dips.
- Monitor volatility as Trump initiates the U.S. strategic crypto reserve.
- Track interest in Solana as CME readies to launch SOL futures.
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