Solana's SOL Surges 34%, Hits $100 Billion Market Cap Amid Crypto Bull Market Resurgence

Solana's cryptocurrency, known as SOL, just hit a big milestone. This happened on Sunday when Bitcoin (BTC) surged to new record prices. The excitement in the market followed Donald Trump's recent election victory and the Federal Reserve's decision to cut rates.

For the first time since the peak of the 2021 crypto bull market, SOL climbed above its March-April highs, reaching $212. That’s a 34% increase over the week! In comparison, Bitcoin only saw an 18% rise, while the broader CoinDesk 20 Index advanced by 27%. Just to give you some context, SOL's all-time high was $260, which is a bit over 20% higher than its current price of $214.

With this week's gains, SOL's market cap soared past $100 billion. It now stands alongside just three other cryptocurrencies that have been around longer: Bitcoin, Ethereum's ether (ETH), and the leading stablecoin, Tether (USDT). There’s chatter on crypto Twitter about a potential "flippening." This time, people are wondering if SOL's market cap might eventually surpass that of ETH, which is currently around $389 billion.

Solana has made a remarkable comeback since the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research in 2022. These were key players supporting the smart contract platform. Now, Solana is the go-to choice for retail crypto users and a hotspot for the current memecoin craze, especially with the popular pump.fun protocol. Plus, the revival of decentralized finance (DeFi) activity has also helped. A recent Coinbase report highlighted that Solana's on-chain trading ecosystem is now the third most profitable sector in crypto. Over the past year, SOL has outperformed many altcoins, rising 275% year-over-year in a market largely dominated by Bitcoin.

This milestone for Solana has broader implications for the crypto market. Julien Bittel, head of macro research at Global Macro Investor, pointed out that SOL's breakout from an eight-month sideways trend suggests we might be entering a more explosive phase of the crypto bull market. He referred to this phase as the "banana zone" due to its steep upward trend.

Bob Loukas, a well-known cross-asset trader, shared his thoughts on X. He stated, "We officially just started the next phase of the bull market." In a previous post, he predicted that SOL could reach its previous all-time high in the coming weeks, given its strong performance relative to the rest of the market.

He added, "SOL to ATH within 14 days wouldn't be a surprise now." This is an exciting time for Solana, and who knows what 2025 will bring?