Solana Whales Dump $17.7M – Will SOL’s Rally to $183 Survive the Sell-Off?

Solana’s big players just cashed out—hard. A staggering $17.7M sell-off hits the market, leaving traders scrambling. Is this the end of SOL’s push toward $183?

Whales vs. Retail: The Eternal Crypto Tug-of-War

When whales dump, retail investors often panic. But let’s not forget—this is the same game Wall Street plays, just with more volatile assets and fewer suits. The question isn’t whether SOL will recover; it’s whether you’ll hold through the chop.

Technical Outlook: Blood in the Water or Just a Speed Bump?

SOL’s chart looks like a Rorschach test—bulls see a dip-buying opportunity, bears see the start of a deeper correction. One thing’s clear: volatility is back on the menu.

Remember, in crypto, ‘smart money’ often means ‘money that got lucky early.’ Stay sharp—the next move could be brutal or brilliant.

Key Takeaways

Solana tumbled 12% in a week as whales dumped tokens and loaded up on shorts. Despite growing retail buying, bearish momentum persists – $154 support could be next.

Solana [SOL] has dropped 12.38% in just one week, tumbling from $206 to a local low of $159. At press time, the price hovered NEAR $162, reflecting a 3.95% daily dip.

This sharp correction pushed the asset into a descending channel, with momentum indicators flashing bearish cues. But while retail traders bought the dip, whales chose to exit.

Whale panic hits the spot market

Notably, after taking a step back from the spot market over the past month, solana whales have returned. 

According to CryptoQuant’s Spot Average Order Size, Solana whales stopped accumulating or selling as the market rebounded.

As such, the spot market has recorded no big whale orders over this period, signaling the absence of whales in the market. 

Source: CryptoQuant

Surprisingly, now that the market has declined, whales have returned to close existing positions. According to Lookonchain, a whale deposited 108,016 SOL worth $17.74 million into OKX and Binance. 

Typically, when a whale deposits assets into CEXs, it indicates preparation to sell or outright selling. Historically, when whales turn to aggressive selling, it signals a lack of conviction in the market and could precede lower prices. 

Shift in strategy

Interestingly, while spot orders slowed, CryptoQuant’s Futures Average Order Size chart showed the opposite trend. Large whale positions returned and this time in the derivatives market.

Source: CryptoQuant

This shift coincided with Solana’s Open Interest falling 7.28% to $9.30 billion, at press time.

At the same time, Derivatives Volume jumped 4.62% to $26.72 billion, suggesting renewed trading interest, but not for bullish bets.

Source: CoinGlass

In fact, the Long/Short Ratio stood at just 0.9231, indicating that most traders were positioning for further downside. Binance’s top trader data confirmed this skew toward shorts, with a position ratio of 2.57.

Retail steps in as whales pull out

While whales are bearish, small-scale investors continue to accumulate. According to CoinGlass, Solana has recorded a negative Spot Netflow for seven consecutive days.

Source: CoinGlass

At press time, the altcoin’s Netflow was -$1.86 million, a significant drop from -$95.49 million on the 1st of August.

In simple terms, whales sold off, but retail traders kept buying the dip. Whether they’ll hold or get shaken out remains the question.

What’s next for SOL?

According to AMBCrypto’s analysis, Solana experienced strong downward momentum amid strengthening bearish sentiments.

For that reason, the altcoin’s Relative Strength Index declined to 41, closing into oversold territory. Likewise, its Stochastic RSI fell to a recent low of 0.07, further confirming the seller’s presence.

Source: TradingView

When momentum indicators are set like this, they signal strengthening downward momentum as bears dominate the market.

That said, if the current trend persists, SOL may make more losses and decline to $154 support. However, if retailers can hold on, sustained buying could absorb the pressure and boost SOL to reclaim $183.