Solana Surpasses Binance Coin In Terms Of Market Cap

The mega rally in Solana continues as the SOL price rallies another 18%, moving closer to $100 during the early trading hours of Dec. 22. This happened for the first time in over two years. On the monthly chart, Solana’s price gains have now exceeded 75%. It has boosted cryptocurrency to the fourth spot by market cap.

Earlier today, the SOL market cap reached a high of $41.9 billion, surpassing Binance Chain’s BNB market cap of $41.8 billion. Just one day prior, on December 21, SOL had surpassed XRP in market cap.

SOLANA FLIPPED BNB pic.twitter.com/ISdrnGfoTb

— borovik (@3orovik) December 22, 2023

This development comes as SOL gained over 30% in the past week, outpacing other major cryptocurrencies during the same period. However, despite being hailed as an “ETH killer” by some supporters, Solana has a long way to go to catch up to Ethereum’s market cap of $269 billion.

Solana last held the fourth position in the crypto rankings in November 2021, according to CoinMarketCap. During that period, at the height of the bull market cycle, it had a market cap of $75 billion but was still behind BNB at $108 billion. However, SOL closed out 2022 at just below $10, mainly due to its association with the bankrupt FTX exchange and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. A year later, Solana rose to nearly $100, making it one of the year’s best-performing crypto assets.

After touching a high of $98.3 earlier today, SOL’s price has retraced again. At the time of writing, Solana’s price is trading at $94 while losing up the fourth spot again to BNB. The technical details indicate the growing selling pressure on SOL.

Solana Bears Liquidated

Over the past 24 hours, SOL has experienced the liquidation of about $12.64 million worth of short contracts. This marks the highest single-day liquidation observed by traders since October of this year. 

The recent liquidation of $12 million, combined with the $7.6 million from Wednesday, brings the total SOL liquidation over the past 48 hours to $20 million. This trend shows that investors anticipating a price decline are currently experiencing significant losses.

A breakthrough above $100 could pave the way for a further uptrend, with the possibility of reaching $113. However, if the attempt to breach $100 proves unsuccessful, SOL may witness minor corrections before the year ends. If it drops to $84 and can’t hold there, it might lose its positive momentum and fall to $71.