Solana (SOL) ticked higher on Sept. 13, reflecting similar upward moves in the broader cryptocurrency market led by Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
On the daily chart, SOL price rose over 4% to $39, its best level in 3 weeks. The coin’s intraday gains came as an extension of a prevalent uptrend that saw the price rise 30% in just 2 weeks.
Compared to Solana, Bitcoin and Ether underperformed, gaining 16% and 22% in the same period. Let’s look at the mix of fundamentals and technicals that may have driven the SOL to rally higher.
merger of helium with solana
On August 30, the main developers behind the Helium Network, which provides decentralized wireless 5G network coverage by enabling users to become hotspots, announced a governance proposal to migrate from its core chain to the Solana blockchain.
Helium developers see Solana as an ideal fit, citing “the need to improve operational efficiency and scalability”.
SOL is the staking and transaction payment token within the Solana ecosystem.
nft boom
The latest buying period in the Solana market also coincided with an uptrend in its non-fungible token (NFT) metrics.
Notably, volumes in NFT marketplaces such as OpenC, Metaplex and Magic Eden reached nearly 1.2 million SOL (~$42.8 million) in the week ending September 11, data tracked by Nansen shows. Simultaneously there was an increase in NFT transactions, reaching a record high of over 1 million in the same period.
Solana NFT Volume per week Submitted without comment pic.twitter.com/QaPanxpOkv
— Nansen Intern (@nansen_intern) 12 September 2022
Solana’s jump in activity appeared to be a unique bright spot in the NFT sector, which has otherwise been seeing less demand in recent months. For example, major NFT marketplace OpenC has seen a significant drop in trading volume.
Of all the Solana NFT collections, the recently launched “y00ts mint t00b” collection has achieved the highest trading volume with Hyperspace. The average figure is around $18.45 million per day.
SOL’s tech boom
From a technical perspective, SOL’s 30% rally started after testing a historically important support level.
SOL/USD has been consolidating sideways since May 23 within a range defined by two flat, parallel trendlines. After falling towards the lower trendline (support), there is usually a 58%-60% bounce towards the upper trendline (resistance).
RELATED: Network outage has been a ‘curse’ of Solana, says co-founder
Similarly, a pullback from the upper trendline has seen the SOL price crash towards the lower trendline, as shown below.
With the SOL rebounding, its path of least resistance appears to be towards an upper trendline near $47.50, which is about 38% higher than the current price level.
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