Solana rose by 4% in the past 24 hours, ignoring the overall stagnation in the cryptocurrency market. Other major digital assets remained flat.
This increase appears to have been triggered by growing speculation that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested potential Solana ETF issuers to update their S-1 registration. This raised hopes that Solana could be the first major altcoin to follow Ethereum's ETF footsteps.
SOL Surges on ETF Speculation
Interest in SOL was reignited as rumors increased that the SEC requested potential Solana ETF issuers to update their S-1 registration form within 30 days. This sparked a revival in trading activity and price momentum. The SOL price rose nearly 5% over the past day.
Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas excited the market by mentioning on X, "Get ready for an altcoin ETF summer with Solana potentially leading the way."
This amplified investors' interest in the possibility of an altcoin season through ETFs, with SOL now at the center of the conversation.
SOL Overtakes BTC… Anticipating Altcoin Summer
Amid macroeconomic uncertainty affecting the market overall, SOL's recent price movement stands out. For example, the SOL/BTC pair's value has increased by 7% since June 7th.
This confirms Solana's relative strength against Bitcoin and increased investor interest in the asset. At the time of reporting, this is 0.0015 BTC.
The SOL/BTC pair measures Solana's value against Bitcoin. It indicates the amount of BTC needed to purchase one SOL. A rising pair means SOL is outperforming BTC, signaling strong investor demand and momentum for the former in the overall market.
Moreover, on-chain data shows growing cautious optimism among SOL holders. According to glassnode, the coin's Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) has entered the "hope" stage. In this psychological zone, holders are seeing slight profits and transitioning to early-stage strength.
This reinforces the narrative that SOL is positioning itself as an altcoin to watch this summer.
Altcoin Summer Ready?
As ETF discussions deepen and SOL prepares to outperform its peers, could this momentum trigger a broader altcoin rally?
The current altcoin season index shows the cryptocurrency market is still in a BTC-dominated phase, weakening the possibility of an altcoin summer.
An altcoin season begins when at least 75% of the top 50 altcoins outperform BTC for three months. However, this is far from reality. Over the past 90 days, only 20% of top altcoins have outperformed the leading coin.
This poor performance suggests a full altcoin season is still far off.
