Solana Whale Dumps $22.9M—Will SOL Prices Survive the Pressure?

A single Solana whale just unloaded $22.9M worth of SOL tokens—triggering alarm bells across crypto markets. Was this a strategic exit or just another rich trader playing volatility roulette?

Market impact: Liquidity pools shuddered as the sell order hit, but SOL’s price held surprisingly steady... for now. Either the ecosystem’s deeper than we thought, or the next domino’s about to fall.

Behind the move: Whale wallets don’t sneeze without reason. Speculation points to profit-taking after Solana’s 300% yearly rally—because nothing says ’faith in the network’ like cashing out at resistance levels.

The cynical take: Another day, another crypto ’whale’ pretending their trades are chess moves while retail investors clean up the confetti. Stay sharp—this isn’t financial advice, just the smell of leveraged greed in the morning.

SOL shifting sentiment: Declining social dominance and emerging bullish funding rates

Interestingly, Social Dominance for solana has seen a significant decline, dropping to 3.56% on the 11th of May, from its peak of 18.93% in January 2025. 

Alongside this, Social Volume has decreased, as it stood at 122, a stark drop from the highs earlier this year. 

In late January, Social Volume surged to over 5,400, signaling a period of heightened market activity and attention. 

Source: Santiment

The OI-Weighted Funding Rate for SOL recently flipped positive, to +0.0130%, suggesting traders leaned slightly bullish with increasing long positions.

In past trends, these Funding Rate changes have often coincided with upward price movements, though caution is required.

Price squeeze potential: Liquidation heatmap and long vs short trends

The Liquidation Heatmap for Solana (SOL) indicated significant risks around key price levels. Notably, near $175, the heatmap shows concentrated long liquidation levels. 

This suggested that any upward momentum might trigger a price squeeze, clearing out long positions and pushing prices higher. 

Conversely, if SOL’s price fails to break through key resistance levels, there could be increased selling pressure. 

Source: CoinGlass

Liquidation data shows market imbalance

The total liquidation data for Solana shows a significant imbalance in market sentiment.

At the time of writing, short liquidations hit $1.8 million, while long liquidations totaled $3.33 million—a clear imbalance.

This suggests that the market is currently more vulnerable to upward price pressure due to the higher number of long liquidations.

As the price of SOL fluctuates, these liquidations can contribute to sharp price movements, with long liquidations potentially leading to a squeeze.  

Fibonacci levels and RSI suggest critical price action

Solana’s (SOL) recent price movement is testing important Fibonacci levels, particularly the 1.618 extension at $163.53 and the 2.618 extension at $177.20.

These key technical levels indicate where Solana might face resistance or support. 

Additionally, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) stood at 74.21, suggesting that SOL could be in overbought territory. Overbought conditions typically signal that the asset may face a correction if buying pressure subsides. 

Therefore, SOL’s ability to break through these levels or pull back will depend heavily on how the market reacts to these critical technical signals.

Source: TradingView

Will SOL continue its uptrend or face a correction?

In sum, bullish signals from whales and Funding Rates are clashing with waning retail interest and an overbought RSI.

What happens NEAR $175–$177.20 could define SOL’s short-term fate—either a breakout or a much-needed cooldown.