Solana’s Staking ETF Smashes Debut: $33M Volume Leaves XRP Futures in the Dust
Solana just rewrote the crypto ETF playbook—and Wall Street didn't see it coming.
When the network's first staking ETF hit the market, it racked up $33 million in volume before the suits could finish their morning coffee. That's more action than XRP futures saw in their entire opening week.
Here's why the smart money's paying attention.
Passive income meets institutional demand
The ETF's secret sauce? It lets investors collect Solana's 5-7% staking rewards without touching a wallet. Suddenly every hedge fund manager with a fear of private keys became a 'long-term blockchain believer.'
Meanwhile in Chicago...
XRP futures volumes look downright anemic by comparison. Turns out traders would rather chase real yield than bet on a token that still hasn't settled its existential legal crisis. Who knew?
The bottom line: When crypto builds products that traditional finance understands, the money flows. Even if the bankers still don't get the tech.
Solana’s first US-listed ETF offering goes live
Solana’s first staking ETF, SSK by REX Shares, went live on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) on Wednesday.
According to Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, SSK ended its debut day with $33 million in trading volume.
“Again, blows away, the Solana futures ETF and XRP futures ETFs (or the avg ETF launch), but it is much lower than the Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs,” said Balchunas in his X post.
Moreover, SolanaFloor's X post highlighted that the $12 million in inflows occurred on its first day for SSK, highlighting its growing institutional appeal.
The healthy launch and growing demand for SOL’s SSK project indicate a bullish outlook for its native token, SOL, in the long term. This staking ETF provides investors with indirect exposure to SOL while also offering the opportunity to contribute to the network’s functionality through staking smart contracts, thereby enhancing its network growth and wider adoption.
Unlike the 12 bitcoin spot ETFs operating in the US, which require the fund issuers to hold the underlying assets, this staking ETF requires the custodian to hold the underlying digital asset, which Anchorage Digital does.
Solana’s technical outlook hints at a rally ahead
Solana price broke out and closed above the descending trendline (drawn by connecting multiple highs since May 24) on Saturday, rallying to close above its 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $151.48 the following day. However, it declined 5.12% on Tuesday and rebounded after retesting its descending trendline the next day. At the time of writing on Thursday, it continues to trade higher at around $153.41.
If SOL continues its upward trend, it could extend the rally toward its daily resistance level at $160. A successful close above this level could extend additional gains to retest its next daily resistance at $184.13.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart reads 53, above its neutral level of 50, indicating that bullish momentum is gaining traction. The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) on the daily chart also displayed a bullish crossover on Saturday, providing a buy signal and indicating an upward trend.
SOL/USDT daily chart
However, if SOL faces a correction, it could extend the decline toward its next support level at $141.41.
