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Solana (SOL), the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has set a new record against rival layer 1 network Ethereum, thanks to a new boom in Solana network activity.
Solana enthusiasts have long predicted that SOL would overtake Ether in market capitalization. That hasn’t happened yet, but rising prices suggest it’s not impossible.
Solana leads Ethereum
Ethereum killer Solana has shown impressive performance in recent months. Solana has consistently ranked among the top weekly gainers, while Ether has been mostly flat.
The SOL/ETH trading pair soared to a new high of around 0.06995 ETH on Wednesday, according to TradingView data.
At the time of writing, SOL was trading at $176.44, up 5.8% in the past 24 hours. Solana was the best-performing asset among the top 10 over the past week, rising 15.7%, while Ether fell 3%.
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Despite Ether’s market capitalization of approximately $302 billion, significantly higher than SOL’s $82 billion, recent changes have raised concerns about Ether’s potential to usurp the pioneering smart contract platform in the near future. There is a lot of speculation.
Solana essentially replaces Ethereum
it’s right in front of us
Easiest trade in life
— Anglio (@CryptoAnglio) October 23, 2024
open interest spike
As a result of this development, open interest in the SOL futures market is on the decline. Open interest soared to more than 19 million SOL ($3.43 billion), the highest notional amount since early 2023, according to data from Coinglass.
Open interest refers to the total amount of outstanding futures bets or amounts allocated to open futures contracts. This is one of the best ways to determine if fresh cash is coming into the market.
The consistent growth in OI may be related to SOL’s price recovery, which means that traders are increasingly engaging in speculative activities related to this asset.
“The truth is, ETH may never reach all-time highs again,” said widely followed trader Jack.
“SOL is actually doing something that I never thought was possible, which is replacing the entire network and taking all the users with it.”
If open interest continues to rise, SOL’s price may continue to rise. If this happens, it will not be difficult for the cryptocurrency to regain $185. This is because as the price rises, funds allocated to the contract surge, reinforcing the bullish uptrend.
