Solana’s SOL has rebounded from support near $100 as traders watch for a recovery toward $150 and beyond, while onchain metrics show record activity.
At the same time, Standard Chartered’s head of crypto research argues the network is shifting from memecoins to stablecoin-based micropayments, with long-term price targets intact despite recent volatility.
According to Cointelegraph, technical signals point to potential upside if key resistance levels are cleared, and network demand is rising with total value locked (TVL) at an all-time high.
Standard Chartered sees growing institutional interest and a developing use case in high-frequency, low-cost payments.
Solana tests support, eyes recovery levels
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Cointelegraph reports SOL formed a possible V-shaped recovery on the four-hour chart after a 25% drop from $127 that found buyers around $100.
The relative strength index on the four-hour timeframe has risen to 36 from oversold conditions at 18, while the daily RSI sits at 29, a level that has previously marked bottoms for SOL.
Bulls face several hurdles: a $113 to $115 supply band, then $125 to $130, where the 50-day EMA and 50-day SMA converge.
A move above these areas could open a run toward a neckline near $150, which Cointelegraph notes would be a 44% climb from current levels.
On the weekly chart, support at $95 to $100 remains strong, and the 50-week moving averages around $140 to $160 have historically acted as resistance.
Cointelegraph cites trader views that a rebound from the lower boundary of a descending channel could target the upper boundary near $215.
The outlet also notes SOL could advance into the $120 to $150 range if the 20-day EMA at $106 is reclaimed as support.
If a past pattern repeats, the last rebound from $95 to $100 preceded a 166% rally to $250 between April 2025 and September 2025, and a similar setup could extend today’s recovery toward $260, or about a 150% increase from current levels.
Onchain demand strengthens with record TVL and activity
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Solana’s TVL reached a record 73.4 million SOL on Monday, worth about $7.5 billion at current rates, an 18% increase over the last week, according to Cointelegraph, citing DefiLlama.
The previous daily peak was 68.3 million SOL in June 2022, during a period of high network activity and an NFT-driven surge that coincided with 80% gains in SOL between June and August 2022.
Network usage is elevated: daily transactions hit a two-year high of 109.5 million on Monday.
Daily DEX volume reached an eight-month high of 51.3 million SOL, and weekly DEX trading volume rose to a 12-month high of 264.8 million SOL during the week ending Sunday.
Cointelegraph also reported that daily active addresses on Solana increased 115% in the second half of January.
Standard Chartered’s long-term thesis on micropayments
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Standard Chartered’s Kendrick Geoffrey believes SOL could evolve from a memecoin-focused network into the backbone for stablecoin-based micropayments.
He argues that Solana’s low gas fees, often less than a cent, are well-suited to high-frequency, low-cost transactions that traditional finance struggles to support due to fixed per-transaction fees.
Geoffrey points to a shift in trading activity from meme tokens to SOL-stablecoin pairs and notes Solana’s stablecoin turnover now significantly surpasses Ethereum’s.
He cites x402, a Coinbase-developed platform for micro-sized, AI-driven stablecoin payments, as an example of the model.
While Coinbase’s Base network has handled large volumes, Geoffrey said fees there could be prohibitive over time compared with Solana.
Despite a recent plunge in SOL’s price to around $100 and a drawdown of about 60% since mid-September, Geoffrey maintains a bullish long-term outlook.
He cut the 2026 target for SOL to $250 from $310, but projects $400 in 2027, $700 in 2028, $1,200 in 2029, and $2,000 by 2030.
Standard Chartered also notes growing institutional interest: since October 2025, the Bitwise BSOL ETF has accounted for 78% of net inflows into SOL-related ETFs, taking over 1% of the total supply under ETF management, while digital asset treasuries hold nearly 3% of SOL.
Cointelegraph’s technical read suggests SOL’s path higher depends on reclaiming $106 and clearing $113 to $115 and $125 to $130, with $150 and $215 as potential waypoints.
Rising TVL and activity add support to the bull case, while Standard Chartered’s thesis outlines a possible shift toward stablecoin micropayments that could underpin longer-term demand.
