Solana prices have been on a tear lately, rallying over 30% in under seven days as the broader cryptocurrency market pushes higher.

The SOL token, which serves as the native digital asset of the high-performance Solana blockchain network, climbed to $188.37 late last night, CoinMarketCap figures show.

At this point, the cryptocurrency had risen roughly 33% after approaching $140.00 on May 14 and was trading at its highest value since early April, additional CoinMarketCap data reveals.

Since then, the SOL token has pulled back somewhat, but has still managed to retain most of the gains it generated over the last week, and was trading close to $178.00 at the time of this writing.

Over the last week, the value of the overall cryptocurrency market has risen from roughly $2.25 trillion to approximately $2.6 trillion at the time of report, an increase of more than 15%.

Robust Network Activity

When explaining the latest gains in SOL, analysts polled for this article repeatedly pointed to strong activity on the Solana network.

“There is a lot going on in the Solana ecosystem that could have contributed to the recent gains,” said Brett Sifling, an investment advisor for Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management.

“Besides the general optimism for crypto and risk-on assets recently, Solana has also experienced a DeFi and meme-coin frenzy that has captivated the attention of traders and gamblers,” he stated via emailed comments.

“Very similar to the immense NFT growth that Solana fueled a few years ago, it seems that speculators have turned their attention to these meme-coins in an effort to get-rich-quick,” said Sifling.

“Since you need to buy Solana’s token SOL in order to buy these meme-coins, it seems that the token has benefited from the continued demand,” he claimed.

Joe Lee, founder and CEO of DefiDive, also weighed in, focusing on network liquidity and its subsequent impact on the value of SOL.

“Earlier this year Solana’s price peaked at $202.37 on March 19th, driven by a significant influx of liquidity from traders seeking yield in the memecoin markets,” he noted.

“DefiDive’s DeFi market data showed liquidity moving from Solana’s network to Base’s chain due to a significant drop in transaction fees following Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade,” Lee observed.

“Simply put, the upgrade, which rolled out on March 13th, made the Base network the lowest-cost place to transact,” he noted.

“Consequently, a large volume of memecoin trading shifted directly to the Base network triggering a selloff of Solana. This was observed and tracked using TVL (Total Value Locked) data.”

However, Lee emphasized that market participants have been flocking back to the Solana platform more recently.

“Confidence in Solana has returned over the past two weeks following a period of uncertainty about whether Base would replace Solana in liquidity,” he stated.

“According to our data, Solana currently maintains $6.725 billion in TVL compared to Base’s $1.757 billion. Solana is currently gaining liquidity much faster than its competing layer 1 and layer 2 chains.”

Lee followed up by emphasizing a key staking announcement that trading platform Robinhood made earlier this month.

“In other macroeconomic indicators, Solana made headlines this week as Robinhood launched its first crypto staking product for European customers, featuring none other than the SOL token,” he stated.

Bullish Price Outlook

Going forward, Lee offered a bullish prediction for SOL prices.

“With strong underlying economics, our analysts have set a target for Solana’s price to reach $210 within the next 30 days,” he stated.

Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency hedge fund manager BitBull Capital, also offered an optimistic take on the digital currency’s future prospects.

Describing SOL as “a favorite of many crypto investors,” he emphasized that the platform is user friendly and provides very fast transaction processing.

“This results in While Bitcoin is about 6% off its all-time high, Solana is still about 30% off its all-time high of almost $260,” said DiPasquale.

“We believe it could climb further, but will find resistance at around the $200 line, which it wasn’t able to convincingly cross earlier this year.”

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether, EOS and SOL.

1. Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) tops within the record of Coinmarketcap.com’s hottest crypto cash in 2021. Shiba Inu has a complete market capitalisation of $20,942,930,262. In October this 12 months, the SHIB token spiked by greater than 216 p.c inside per week, attaining a brand new all-time excessive of $0.000088. Notably, Shiba Inu seen 188, 019, 378 instances throughout the entire 12 months. At present, the coin was buying and selling at $0.00003838, up 2.59 per cent within the final 24 hours. 

2. Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin which has the most important market capitalisation in the entire world attained the second place within the reputation of cash in 2021. Bitcoin seen 145,519,992 instances in 2021, in response to coinmarketcap. Bitcoin has complete market capitalisation of $959,657,244,574, witnessed a seesaw in costs via the 12 months. The bottom worth of BTC was recorded on January 1 at $28,803.59, whereas the best it touched was $68,789.63 on November 10, a distinction of 138.8 per cent. Whereas writing this text on December 21, coin was buying and selling at $51,087.72, up 2,21 per cent within the final 24 hours. 

3. Dogecoin (DOGE)

High meme coin by market capitalisation Dogecoin (DOGE) was the third most seen crypto coin in 2021. It has been seen 107,402,681 instances, having complete market capitalisation of $25,238,754,379. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a number of instances in favour of Dogecoin over the 12 months. On December 27 Doge was buying and selling at $0.1899 and was elevated by 0.88 per cent within the final 24 hours. 

“I’m a glass-is-half-full form of man, therefore happy that three of the top-5 cash have actually stable fundamentals and potential for technological innovation. Speculators typically fear that they might have missed the bus on Bitcoin, and therefore search for new areas of potential acquire. That’s the place two meme cash even have crept into the top-5. However, because the market matures, stable expertise will triumph, ” says Ajeet Khurana, a crypto venture advisor and investor. 

4. Cardano (ADA)

Cardano (ADA) made the fourth place within the record of high 5 most seen cash in 2021 of coinmarketcap. ADA with complete market capitalisation of $52,544,812,8133 has been seen 86,612,949 instances over the 12 months. Presently, Cardano was buying and selling at $1.57 with an increase of 9.89 per cent within the final 24 hours. Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that claims its aim is to permit “changemakers, innovators and visionaries” to result in constructive international change. Cardano will increase 795 per cent from January 1 to December 27, 2021, in response to coinmarketcap.

“My prediction is that Bitcoin and Ethereum and can nonetheless be within the top-5 one 12 months from now. Cardano can have slipped a bit. And the 2 meme cash will not be discovered wherever close to the top-5,” Khurana added. 

5. Ethereum (ETH)

Ethereum which is a decentralised open-source blockchain system that options its personal cryptocurrency has ranked at fifth place in most seen cryptocurrencies in 2021 of coinmarketcap.com.It has seen.

81,358,080 instances over the 12 months. ETH has complete market capitalisation of $485,382,963,764, , and presently buying and selling at $4,082.05 , up 0.83 within the final 24 hours. 

Bitcoin costs suffered some weak spot at the moment, dropping to their lowest since mid-October, as market observers cited a number of components as probably triggering these declines.

The world’s most distinguished digital forex depreciated to $55,460.96 at the moment, in keeping with CoinDesk knowledge.

At this level, the cryptocurrency was buying and selling at its lowest since October 13, extra CoinDesk figures present.

As well as, it was down shut to twenty% from the all-time excessive of practically $69,000 it reached earlier this month.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.] A number of Bearish Components

When explaining the digital forex’s newest downward motion, analysts pointed to quite a few variables as probably fueling these losses.

“I don’t suppose there’s any single catalyst that’s pushing Bitcoin costs decrease this week,” mentioned John Iadeluca, founder & CEO of multi-strategy fund Banz Capital.

“There’s been motion of Bitcoin from extraordinarily previous wallets that has spurred rumors. In my view although, Bitcoin’s value decline this week is a fruits of rising promoting stress, finish of yr profit-taking, in addition to hypothesis,” he acknowledged.

When requested to elaborate on what he meant by “hypothesis,” Iadeluca emphasised that many market observers are attempting to determine “what the motion of Bitcoin from the previous wallets means, and whether or not this means massive gross sales of Bitcoin produced from these wallets within the close to future.”

Mt. Gox Issues

A number of analysts spoke to the influence that the continued Mt. Gox state of affairs might have had on the worth of bitcoin.

Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee of Mt. Gox, introduced just lately that the proposed rehabilitation plan for the change, which was hacked again in 2014, was “remaining and binding.”

Consequently, collectors of the now-defunct change will obtain greater than 140,000 items of bitcoin, which is value greater than $7 billion, in keeping with CoinDesk value knowledge.

If these collectors promote their holdings, it will place downward stress on the worth of bitcoin, probably fueling vital declines.

Andrew Rossow, an web and know-how lawyer, claimed that these developments are already affecting the digital forex.

“I’m very assured that because of the Rehabilitation Trustee starting to make (re) funds to collectors, that is driving up the Crypto Worry & Greed Index, inflicting market sentiment to go down with respect to Bitcoin’s market value,” he acknowledged.

“What this demonstrates is whereas the main points of Mt. Gox’s rehabilitation plan have been typically identified to the general public and traders for a while, shopper and investor conduct reveals concern to nonetheless be the driving issue for Bitcoin’s value,” Rossow added.

“Worry is what pushes it decrease, but additionally concern pushes it increased – I imagine the concern from Mt. Gox is what dropped the worth,” he acknowledged.

Iadeluca additionally claimed that the Mt. Gox state of affairs has been looming over traders.

“Sure, I feel the Mt. Gox state of affairs has performed a hand in including downward stress on Bitcoin costs just lately,” he acknowledged.

“No matter whether or not the state of affairs proves to be catastrophic or not, it appears to be frightening market FUD.”

Dylan LeClair, head of market analysis for Bitcoin Journal, supplied a extra skeptical tackle the matter.

“The headlines just lately from the Mt.Gox trustee’s dispute could have had some market influence resulting from headline merchants marginally,” he acknowledged.

“A number of the collectors have mentioned they don’t anticipate to get their claims resolved till 2023, in addition to a number of the claims have been already acquired by hedge funds,” LeClair added.

“Mt.Gox information is extra headline grabbing than market transferring in our opinion.”

Greenback Energy

LeClair claimed that the rising worth of the U.S. greenback, relative to different fiat currencies, has contributed to the current losses in bitcoin costs.

“When viewing what is going on in legacy markets with the DXY, which measures the worth of a greenback relative to different fiat currencies, there was a continued strengthening all through 2021, and it is a potential catalyst for a threat off transfer throughout all international markets,” he acknowledged.

Greenback energy “has performed an element, a minimum of marginally,” in inflicting risk-off promoting, which has in flip helped push bitcoin costs decrease, the analyst mentioned.

“$BTC is BTC/USD, and when the denominator is strengthening relative to different foreign exchange, traders should promote greenback denominated belongings to cowl denominated greenback denominated liabilities,” LeClair famous.

Rossow additionally commented on this matter.

“The DXY value index definitely has an influence on Bitcoin’s value. The problem right here, nonetheless, is figuring out the precise components that drive development and decline, making it difficult for a transparent relationship to be recognized as between DXY and Bitcoin’s value.”

“If we’re going off previous conduct, there appears to be a detrimental correlation between the worth of Bitcoin and the DXY – that means, because the U.S. greenback rises in value, Bitcoin’s value will very seemingly crash resulting from it probably not being equally represented in conventional portfolios.”

Disclosure: I personal some bitcoin, bitcoin money, litecoin, ether, EOS and sol.