Solana Price Jumps After FTX Moves $21.5M in SOL Unlocks

Key Highlights:

• FTX moved 186,326 SOL worth $21.5M in its latest asset unlock
• SOL price climbed 3% after the unlock, trading around $117.65
• Daily active Solana addresses remain steady between 3M–5M

FTX unlocked $21.5 million in SOL, but Solana’s price quickly bounced, rising 3% to $117.65. With liquidations ongoing, SOL’s resilience and recovery efforts are being supported by consistent network activity and strong market demand.

FTX Unlocks $21.5 Million in SOL Amid Market Recovery

According to court-approved liquidation strategy, bankrupt exchange FTX unlocked and moved 186,326 SOL, or roughly $21.5 million, on April 11, 2025. This is part of FTX’s ongoing effort to unload digital assets following its collapse, as the Delaware Bankruptcy Court has allowed up to $200 million per week in crypto sales.

Between the start of 2024 and the present, FTX and its sister company, Alameda Research, have unstaked and moved more than 18.66 million SOL. According to historical market prices, this SOL is valued between $2.33 billion and $3.43 billion. The liquidations are a part of a wider attempt to repay creditors while avoiding shocks to the digital asset markets.

While big unlocks can put pressure on Solana’s price, the April transaction was small. On the other hand, the March 2025 unlock involved 11.2 million SOL and caused a price drop of over 20%. But within days the market stabilized, indicating that smaller releases might be absorbed with less disruption.

Solana Price Rebounds as Bulls Push Against Downtrend

Despite continued liquidations, Solana’s price has shown resilience. After last week’s losses, the token rose 3% in the last 24 hours to trade at $117.65. Even as $21.5 million worth of SOL entered the market, this recovery demonstrated buyer confidence.

According to technical charts, the cryptocurrency is testing key resistance at the $125 level. This is a descending trendline that meets a horizontal resistance zone that many traders are watching.

Crypto Rand shared “Eyes on SOL, really nice bounce, pushing hard on the main downtrend resistance confluence with the horizontal level at $125.” Further gains could be on the cards if momentum continues, with a break above this level.

However, over the last three months, Solana has been on a downward path from its local highs of over $200 in early 2025. Although the decline, there is still interest from both retail and institutional participants in each recovery attempt.

Activity and Ecosystem Strength Help Absorb Sell Pressure

Despite the price drop, daily active addresses on the Solana network have been stable. Looking at data from Artemis, daily users were around 6.8 million at the beginning of the year, reaching 8 million mid-January.

Since then, there has been a gradual decline in daily active addresses, but they are still averaging between 3 and 5 million per day.

The level of activity at this point indicates that the Solana ecosystem is still active and engaged. It also suggests strong user adoption, which helps absorb tokens being sold into the market. As more projects are being built on Solana and the number of developers is growing, the utility of the network keeps attracting use even during price corrections.

Moreover, total value locked (TVL) is on the rise from the lows of 2023. Before correcting, the  TVL hit over $10 billion in early 2025. The ecosystem demand is now stabilizing, which is in line with the argument that ecosystem demand can help balance the supply of liquidation.

Although the Futures Market is Cooling, it is Still Active

Solana’s futures market has also shifted. According to Coinglass, open interest in SOL futures has dropped from around $8 billion in January 2025 to below $3 billion in April. Traders appear more cautious, as open interest fell alongside volatility tied to token unlocks.

Nevertheless, the futures market remains active and liquid. Although the volume has decreased, as of early April, futures traders were still tracking SOL’s price closely. Lower open interest may also reduce the risk of sharp price swings due to liquidation cascades, allowing spot buyers to step in during downturns.

With FTX continuing its asset sales, the market has had time to adjust to structured and capped liquidation—no more than $200 million per week. Solana has shown the ability to

Disclaimer

In this article, the views and opinions stated by the author or any people named are for informational purposes only, and they don’t establish the investment, financial, or any other advice. Trading or investing in cryptocurrency assets comes with a risk of financial loss.