Decentral Block Post

Solana (SOL) has been in a steady downtrend for the past 3 months, but some traders believe that it may have bottomed at $26.80 on Oct. 21. Lately, there's been a lot of speculation on the causes for the underperformance and some analysts are pointing to competition from Aptos Network.

The Aptos blockchain launched on Oct. 17 and it claims to handle three times more transactions per second than Solana. Yet, after four years of development and millions of dollars in funding, the debut of the layer-1 smart contract solution was rather unimpressive.

It is essential to highlight that Solana presently holds an $11.5 billion market capitalization at the $32 nominal price level, ranking it as the seventh largest cryptocurrency when excluding stablecoins. Despite its size, SOL’s year-to-date performance reflects a lackluster 82% drop, while the broader global market capitalization is down 56%.

Unfortunate events have negatively impacted SOL’s price

The downtrend accelerated on Oct. 11 after a leading decentralized finance application on the Solana Network suffered a $116 million hack.

Mango Markets’ oracle was attacked due to the low liquidity on the platform's native Mango (MNGO) token which is used for collateral. To put things in perspective, the hack represented 9% of Solana's total value locked (TVL) in smart contracts.

Solana (SOL) has been in a steady downtrend for the past 3 months, but some traders believe that it may have bottomed at $26.80 on Oct. 21. Lately, there's been a lot of speculation on the causes for the underperformance and some analysts are pointing to competition from Aptos Network.

The Aptos blockchain launched on Oct. 17 and it claims to handle three times more transactions per second than Solana. Yet, after four years of development and millions of dollars in funding, the debut of the layer-1 smart contract solution was rather unimpressive.

It is essential to highlight that Solana presently holds an $11.5 billion market capitalization at the $32 nominal price level, ranking it as the seventh largest cryptocurrency when excluding stablecoins. Despite its size, SOL’s year-to-date performance reflects a lackluster 82% drop, while the broader global market capitalization is down 56%.

Unfortunate events have negatively impacted SOL’s price

The downtrend accelerated on Oct. 11 after a leading decentralized finance application on the Solana Network suffered a $116 million hack.

Mango Markets’ oracle was attacked due to the low liquidity on the platform's native Mango (MNGO) token which is used for collateral. To put things in perspective, the hack represented 9% of Solana's total value locked (TVL) in smart contracts.

Bitcoin (BTC) held gains above $21,000 into Nov. 5 as the U.S. dollar posted a rare major daily decline.

Dollar dives 2% as risk assets recover

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD building on prior strength to hit highs of $21,473 on Bitstamp — a new seven-week high.

The pair had benefited from the latest United States economic data, while the dollar conversely suffered. The U.S. dollar index (DXY) lost 2% in a day for the first time in years, helping fuel a risk asset rally.

“And, just like that, Bitcoin took out all the highs, volume is increasing and it's back above $21K,” Michaël van de Poppe, CEO and founder of trading firm Eight, commented.

“I'm assuming we'll continue towards $22.5K from here, but have a slight correction before continuing (as we took out all the liquidity). Buy the dip season.”

Since March 2022, traders and so-called analysts have been forecasting a policy change or pivot from the United States Federal Reserve. 

Apparently, such a move would prove that the Fed’s only available option is to print into oblivion, further diminishing the value of the dollar and enshrining Bitcoin (BTC) as the world’s future reserve asset and ultimate store of value.

Apparently.

Well, this week (Nov. 2) theFed raised interest rates by the expected 0.75%, and equities and crypto rallied like they usually do.

But this time, there was a twist. Prior to the FOMC gathering, there were a few unconfirmed leaks that the Fed and White House were considering a “policy pivot.”