Solana Takes the Altcoin Rally Baton as ETH, XRP, BTC Stall

With bitcoin BTC$92,759.59 languishing around $117,000 and ether ETH$3,174.90 pausing below $3,800 on Monday, it was Solana's SOL$136.02 turn to catch-up with the broadening altcoin rally.

SOL advanced nearly 8% over the past 24 hours to just shy of $200 during the session, its strongest price since mid-February and has more than doubled from the April, tariff tantrum lows. The token is also nearing a two-month high in BTC terms, attempting a rebound after a brutal, 50% correction against the largest crypto from the January peak.

The rest of the large-cap tokens saw muted actions, with XRP$2.1364, Cardano's ADA ADA$0.4009 and BNB BNB$899.48 booking modest gains. BTC was down nearly 1% during the same period.

As bitcoin has been trading sideways in a tight range for more than a week, altcoins gathered steam booking double-digit advances.

"This dynamic suggests that capital rotation is underway, with investors reallocating from BTC into higher-beta assets to capture additional upside," Bitfinex analysts said in a Monday report. This has historically signaled the beginning of altcoin-led phases within broader bull markets, the report added.

While Ethereum recently stole the crypto narrative spotlight as the go-to network for stablecoins, tokenization amid institutional and corporate treasury demand, Solana that has been the premier hub for fast-paced memecoin trading lagged initially.

Coinbase analysts, lead by head of research David Duong, said both tokens will benefit from the broadening crypto rally as institutional interest driven by U.S. efforts to regulate the sector.

"Solana, despite a moderation in its memecoin-driven activity, is demonstrating its capacity for high transaction volumes and exploring new sectors," David Duong, head of research at Coinbase, said a report. "We see both ETH and SOL being supported by institutional interest and their beta to the rest of the crypto complex."