Solana has staged a remarkable comeback this week, with its native token SOL climbing more than 20% to trade around the $130 mark. This unexpected rise has caught the attention of both retail and institutional investors, fueling renewed optimism in the network’s long-term potential. After months of high volatility, price drops, and negative sentiment, Solana’s impressive rally has many asking the same question: is this the beginning of a larger bullish trend—or just another short-term bounce?

The recent price movement appears to be backed by more than just hype. A deeper dive into Solana’s on-chain activity and technical indicators shows a notable shift in momentum. Most strikingly, the SOL/ETH trading pair recently broke through resistance levels last seen in early February, a signal that Solana is gaining strength relative to Ethereum. This comes alongside another major achievement—Solana has now surpassed Ethereum in total DeFi revenue, generating $2.56 billion in lifetime fees compared to Ethereum’s $2.27 billion.

This milestone has surprised many in the crypto community, especially given Ethereum’s long-standing dominance in decentralized finance. However, Solana’s edge in scalability and transaction speed is now being reflected in its on-chain performance. With significantly lower fees and faster throughput, Solana has become increasingly attractive to developers and users alike, giving its ecosystem a competitive advantage in high-volume applications such as DeFi, gaming, and NFTs.

Just a few weeks ago, the outlook was quite different. Solana closed the first quarter of 2025 with a more than 30% loss in market value, underperforming several major cryptocurrencies. Its market cap briefly slipped below the $100 billion mark, and it fell behind Binance Coin in overall rankings. Adding to the concerns, whale investors began offloading large volumes of SOL, and a surge in unstaking activity added to the market’s bearish tone. With millions of tokens flooding the market, price pressure intensified, and confidence dipped.

However, that sentiment may be starting to shift. New data shows Solana’s Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols has reached a new April peak of $8.54 billion, suggesting a renewed flow of capital into the network. More importantly, the long-term investor behavior appears to be turning bullish. The Net Position Change metric, which tracks long-term wallet inflows, has flipped into positive territory, indicating growing confidence among committed holders.

This ongoing accumulation marks the longest stretch of sustained buying activity in over six months. Historically, such patterns tend to precede strong upward movements, particularly when backed by positive fundamentals. It’s a promising sign that Solana may be emerging from its previous downtrend. Still, it’s worth noting that the broader retail market has yet to catch up. Wallet creation—a key indicator of new user growth—has dropped to a six-month low, suggesting that while whales and long-term holders are positioning for upside, average retail investors remain cautious or disengaged.

This divergence raises an important point: while Solana’s internal structure is strengthening, it may take another catalyst to fuel the kind of widespread retail interest needed for a full-scale breakout. Until then, the price could remain range-bound, with long-term investors driving most of the demand.

So, what’s next for Solana? The network’s performance this week provides a strong foundation, but sustaining this momentum will require broader adoption and continuous on-chain growth. Developers continue to build on Solana, and its appeal among institutional players is rising. If these trends continue and retail engagement picks up, Solana could very well be entering the early stages of a new growth phase.

For HODLers who held through the tough times—when FUD, market sell-offs, and sharp declines dominated the narrative—this moment feels like a long-awaited turning point. While it’s too soon to declare a full-scale bull run, the recent surge in price and underlying activity suggest that their patience may finally start to pay off.