Solana rallied 19% this week to reach $91, driven by record inflows into the cryptocurrency’s spot exchange-traded funds as institutional demand strengthened on the back of a major network upgrade. US spot Solana ETFs recorded $14.58 million in inflows on Thursday alone, the largest single-day flow since late July, according to SoSoValue data cited by FXStreet.
The cumulative inflows into US spot Solana ETFs have now exceeded $1.16 billion since their launch on October 28, 2025, marking a milestone for the third cryptocurrency to receive SEC spot ETF approval, following Bitcoin and Ethereum. The week ending August 14 saw $10.26 million in net inflows, roughly 70 times the previous week’s $144,930, signaling a sharp acceleration in institutional interest.
Solana became the third major cryptocurrency to launch US spot ETFs, trailing Bitcoin and Ethereum’s 2024 approvals. Analysts had expected modest initial adoption, but the token’s network improvements have shifted sentiment. Solana’s Agave v4.2 upgrade, which shipped in August 2026, cut transaction costs by 90%, halved slot times to 200 milliseconds, and increased transaction sizes to 4,096 bytes, addressing long-standing scalability complaints.
The price climb reflects both the technical improvements and a broader pattern of institutional accumulation. Earlier in August, Solana ETFs recorded $8.8 million in net inflows on August 10, their strongest day since May 12, according to data from CoinGlass and TechTimes. The recent surge pushes SOL toward resistance levels that technical analysts have flagged at $95 to $100.
Solana has recovered significantly from its January 2025 peak of $294.85, when it briefly ranked as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap during the Trump administration’s crypto-friendly policy environment. The token had declined 71% from that peak before this week’s rally, but the ETF inflows suggest renewed confidence in both the network’s technical roadmap and its competitive position against Ethereum and other layer-one chains.
The ETF momentum also reflects improved market conditions for risk assets more broadly. Bitcoin surged past $77,000 in its best week since March 2023, and Ethereum surged past $2,300 as short squeeze and Treasury moves fueled the rally, creating a tailwind for altcoins. Solana’s faster transaction finality and lower costs position it as an attractive alternative for developers and traders seeking to escape Ethereum’s congestion and fees.
Sources
- FXStreet — SOL ETF inflows of $14.58 million on Thursday, August 21, 2026, and 19% weekly rally
- StartupFortune — US spot Solana ETFs crossed $1.16 billion in cumulative inflows as a record
- Yahoo Finance / AltcoinBuzz — Solana ETF inflows of $10.26 million in the week ending August 14, 2026
- Solana Official / Helius — Agave v4.2 upgrade shipped August 2026 with 90% rent reduction, 200ms slot times, and 4,096-byte transactions
- CoinMarketCap — Solana price history and January 2025 all-time high of $294.85
- CoindCX — Solana spot ETFs began trading October 28, 2025
