- Open Interest dropped 58% since January’s $6B peak.
- Daily network fees dropped 96.5% from January to March.
A surge in bullish sentiment is emerging among traders of Solana [SOL] futures.
According to data shared by Ali Charts, 78.82% of open Solana positions on Binance Futures are long as of the 22nd of March.
Source: X
This figure translates to a long/short ratio of 3.72, suggesting traders are more than three times as likely to bet on upside than downside.
But how does this stack up against the rest of the market?
Questioning the herd
Other Long/Short Ratio datasets from Binance show a more conservative trend across top traders.
Source: Coinglass
For example, on the 21st of March, Bitcoin Futures showed a Long/Short Ratio of 2.05. But by the 24th of March, that had dropped to 1.71, marking a 16.6% decline.
Eyes on Solana Open Interest
This bullish positioning is occurring just as Open Interest in Solana Futures appears to be bottoming after months of decline.
Aggregated Open Interest in Solana Futures peaked in January 2025 near $6 billion. Since then, it has fallen by 58% to $2.548 billion as of the 25th of March, according to Coinalyze.
Source: Coinalyze
This decline matches a 52% drop in SOL’s price, from over $290 in mid-January to $142 at present. The synchronized fall in price and open interest reflects a wide-scale unwinding of leveraged positions.
Now, traders are watching closely—because the chart may be turning.
Charts suggest price may now be stabilizing, with SOL recording a modest +1.32% daily gain on the 25th of March.
On-chain whispers
On-chain activity is flashing similar signals as well, for instance, fee revenue data paints a similar picture.
From October 2024 to January 2025, Solana’s daily network fees surged by 3,453%, reaching $35.53 million in late January. Revenue rose in parallel, peaking at $17.77 million.
Source: DefiLlama
Since then, network activity has cratered. As of the 25th of March, daily fees are down to $1.28 million, a 96.5% decrease from January highs.
So, what’s holding up user confidence?
DEX volume on Solana reached $1.552 billion in 24 hours, nearly matching Ethereum’s $1.664 billion, despite Ethereum [ETH] holding more than 6x the TVL.
Source: DefiLlama
This indicates that Solana users are transacting more frequently, contributing to higher throughput and potentially higher per-user efficiency.
It’s not an isolated metric, either.
Solana holds the second-highest DeFi TVL among all chains at $6.809 billion, behind Ethereum’s $46.288 billion. This pattern suggests that even as fees and prices decline, Solana continues to attract real user activity.
Where does SOL go from here?
Solana’s price rose from under $60 in October 2024 to above $270 by mid-January.
It then dropped by 51% and settled near $132 by March. By the 24th of March, gains moderated to 6.13% as the price hovered near $142.
Market cap dominance also fell from 70.44% to 34.93% in that timeframe. These figures indicate slower momentum.
With Solana Futures Long/Short Ratio hitting 3.72, traders on Binance appear to be anticipating a bounce.
This optimism follows a major drop in fees, open interest, and price. Yet Solana’s strong DEX activity, and user engagement, hint at stabilization.
