SOL Price Holds Steady at Around 170 as 1 4M SOL Unlocking Wave Sparks Market Volatility
5/20/2025, 11:45:39 PM
As of May 20th, the price of SOL is around $169.60, with a market capitalization of $866.6 billion and 1.4M SOL unstake; this article takes you quickly through the latest market fluctuations.
The latest market overview of Solana

Image:https://www.gate.io/trade/SOL_USDT
- Price and Market Cap on the day: On May 20th, SOL was reported at $169.60, with a market cap of $86.66 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $49.17 billion.
- 7-day trend: The highest point last week reached $184.05 (May 14th), then fell back to $169.60, with a total decline of about 7.8%.
Unstake the on-chain movement of 1.4M SOL
This week’s on-chain data shows that FTX, as a major staking participant, has unstaked approximately 1.4 million SOL tokens (worth around 2.36 billion US dollars) to meet the redemption demand on May 30th. Such a large unstaking typically indicates that a significant amount of liquidity will be released to the secondary market in the short term, intensifying selling pressure.
Price pullback reasons: Three major factors
- Large-scale unstaking - As mentioned above, FTX’s 1.4M SOL unstaking exacerbates short-term selling pressure.
- Macro crypto sentiment — Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) retraced by about 3% from around $2,500, while mainstream Layer-1s such as Cardano (ADA) and XRP also faced pressure, with the overall market showing a tendency to avoid risk.
- Derivatives Liquidation — Over the past 24 hours, over 4 billion USD liquidation occurred in the SOL futures market, further undermining bullish confidence.
Technical analysis: $150 support level
From the TradingView technical chart, SOL, after breaking through the bullish flag pattern on May 8th, once reached a high of $188.69; the pullback broke the $150 support before the neckline of the flag pattern, still maintaining a bullish structure.
- Support level: $150
- Potential target: After breaking through and returning to the upper flag track, it is expected to test $212
Future Outlook and Investment Advice
- Focus on the strong performance of BTC: Bitcoin has been steadily above $100,000 for several days. If this continues, it may provide emotional support for SOL.
- Event catalyst: The U.S. SEC will review the first batch of Altcoin ETFs on June 16, with PolyMarket market pricing showing an 82% approval probability. Investors may pay attention to early positioning opportunities.
- Emerging application: MetaMask will launch native support for Solana in May, greatly reducing the entry barrier, or bringing in new users and funds.
Beginner’s suggestion:
- If SOL can hold at $150, it can be seen as a buying opportunity on dips;
- If it falls below this level, strict stop-loss is required;
- Closely monitor the flow of unstaked tokens and the dynamics of BTC and ETF approvals.
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