Key takeaways:
– Solana outperforms Ethereum in high-revenue DApps, providing a fundamental cushion against recent price drops.
– Rising Ethereum Layer-2 dominance challenges SOL as traders monitor the critical $80 support level for a retest.
Solana’s native token, SOL, slid about 11% after a rejection at $93 last Wednesday and has underperformed the broader crypto market over the past week, repeatedly testing the $80 support. Falling network fees over the past two months have raised concerns that SOL could retest $75.
Total value locked (TVL) on Solana is $6.3 billion versus Ethereum’s $54.1 billion, but Solana generated roughly 80% more network fees than Ethereum in the last 30 days. That gap is partly explained by Ethereum’s incentives for layer-2 rollups, which use temporary data blobs to reduce costs.
Network fees on Solana fell to $18.5 million in March, down 42% from January’s $30 million, driven mainly by weaker decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes. Solana’s DEX volumes dropped to $55.5 billion in March, the lowest since September 2024, according to DefiLlama.
Ethereum’s DEX volumes were $41 billion in March, down 23% from two months earlier. Aggregating Ethereum layer-2 chains such as Base, Arbitrum, Polygon and Optimism lifts Ethereum’s DEX market share to 42% in March from 33% in January, indicating growing layer-2 competition that pressures SOL’s market position and contributes to bearish momentum.
Solana’s DApp revenue profile could help sustain the $80 support. Despite falling DEX activity, Solana leads other chains in the number of DApps earning $1 million or more in 30 days, which encourages developer and investor interest. Protocols like Pump, Helium Network and ORE Protocol contribute to on-chain revenue that attracts users and capital.
Solana has 13 DApps generating $1 million-plus in 30-day revenue; Ethereum has 11, while BNB Chain and Base have four each at that threshold. This suggests that lower network fees driven by weak DEX volumes do not by themselves guarantee a retest of $75, as the broader ecosystem revenue and active high-earning protocols provide underlying support for SOL.
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