Can Solana replicate September’s rally in October after latest upgrade?

September may have been the turning point for Solana’s Q4 rally.

Historically, a strong fundamental performance has not always translated into a robust technical performance for SOL. However, September was nothing short of remarkable, with the altcoin recording more than 14% in price gains. It almost doubled Ethereum’s returns, while also crossing the psychological $120-barrier on its way for the first time since early Q1.

The key takeaway? This gain did not come out of nowhere. As shown in the graph below, SOL’s monthly transaction count climbed to a whopping 10.7 billion in September, the highest since May 2025.

To put this in perspective, SOL’s price performance finally caught up with the network’s adoption growth.

However, the momentum does not stop there.

Based on Solana Hub’s X post, September marked another milestone for tokenized stocks on the network. The supply of tokenized equity reportedly crossed $780.5 million as spot trading volume reached $4.25 billion, with the number of holders surpassing 1 million. This is yet another positive development for SOL, as the network’s activity is gaining traction and its tokenized equity market is growing exponentially. This bodes well for the fundamentals heading deeper into October.

According to AMBCrypto, this is where September’s rally get interesting.

SOL gained by over 14% for the month, having regained its position on-chain in terms of value. Now, given the signs of strength on both fronts, can Solana [SOL] sustain the September rally through October and the rest of Q4?

Solana’s faster network fuels bullish hopes

A significant upgrade could explain why September’s bullish momentum is critical.

As previously mentioned, the network’s on-chain activity was at a multi-month high as transaction numbers peak and tokenized equity supply reached a record level. These factors contributed to SOL’s outperformance over ETH in the last risk-on period. The crucial question is whether the altcoin can replicate the success.

Notably, Solana’s developers have reduced the time between slots by half, from 400 ms to 200 ms. In simple terms, the network can produce more blocks in a given time period.

Therefore, it should be able to process more transactions quickly. And, with the rise of tokenized stocks and on-chain trading, this could prove advantageous to the network and allow it to gather more activity. 

If September’s trend persists, then the altcoin could gain further ground in the rest of Q4.

With Ethereum’s block time of 12 seconds, Solana’s 200 ms slots will allow faster block production time and, therefore, faster transactions. The rise of tokenized stocks and on-chain trading will drive adoption, which should boost the demand for the native asset and eventually, its price. In a risk-on environment, faster block time is an attractive feature that can draw new traders and developers to the ecosystem. 

Thus, Solana can be expected to break the $125-barrier and stage a powerful rally in Q4.

Final Summary

• Solana hit 10.7 billion transactions in September, boosting its bullish outlook.
• Solana’s 200 ms slot time could drive adoption and help SOL break above $125 in Q4.