Solana Whales Dominate Futures As Spot ETFs Pull $35M, Retail Stays Sidelined

Goldman's stake ranks as the second-largest institutional SOL ETF holding, with Morgan Stanley, VanEck and market makers also on the cap table.

SOL traded near $87 on Saturday, still about 71% under its January 2025 peak of $294.

Whales Run the Tape

CryptoQuant data show Solana Futures activity since February has been driven by oversized whale orders, even as spot volumes stay in a cooling phase.

Retail prints were heavier during the November and December slide, when SOL fell from near $190 toward $120, but that participation has since faded.

JPMorgan has projected $6 billion in total SOL ETF inflows over time, leaving roughly $4.55 billion still on the sidelines based on cumulative flows of $1.45 billion since launch.

Solana has struggled to retake the $86.82 to $88.46 resistance band this month, with analysts flagging $80 as the line that has to hold.

Alexey Bondarev is the Head of Content at Yellow.com, having reported on crypto for the last 10 years. He specializes in in-depth Research and Learn pieces, with a focus on analytical reporting, industry context, and the bigger forces shaping crypto, from the AI era and security technologies to fintech innovation. He believes that everything digital will imminently overcome everything analogue and is working hard to make that come true.