Solana (SOL) fell 2.37% to $102 on Sept. 8 even as whales opened $9.11M in long positions ahead of a Sept. 9 network upgrade.
Key Points:
- Whales opened $9.11M in Solana longs between Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 as the network prepared to triple its maximum transaction size.
- The broader futures market remains bearish, with negative funding, a 0.92 long-short ratio and lower derivatives activity.
- A triangle breakout could point toward $124 above resistance or $84 if support fails.
Solana Whale Bets
Whale traders are positioning for a rebound before Solana raises its maximum transaction size, despite broader derivatives data showing weaker demand and a market tilted toward shorts. CoinGlass data shows five whale addresses on Hyperliquid opened $9.11M in SOL long positions between Sept. 7 and Sept. 8.
The upgrade will increase Solana’s transaction size from 1,232 bytes to 4,096 bytes, more than tripling the current ceiling. Crypto Tony said the change should allow multiple transactions to be bundled into one, reducing a structural bottleneck and potentially improving Solana’s position against Ethereum (ETH). “By more than tripling this ceiling to 4,096 bytes, Solana is looking to eliminate this structural bottleneck,” the analyst said.
Those whale positions are contrarian.
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Crypto Tony Outlook
The broader futures market is less bullish. Solana’s funding rate has turned negative, while the long-short account ratio stands at 0.92, indicating that short accounts outnumber long accounts.
Futures trading volume fell 16% to $6.53B, while open interest declined 1.21% to $6.47B. At the same time, Solana exchange-traded products have recorded 10 straight weeks of inflows, suggesting institutional demand has remained steadier than derivatives activity.
The four-hour chart leaves Solana at a technical decision point, with price moving inside a symmetrical triangle that has an estimated 16% height. A break below the lower trendline could send SOL toward $84, while a move above $107 resistance could imply a roughly 16% advance toward $124. RSI stands at 45.
The indicator is also making a lower low, signaling that selling pressure has been increasing ahead of the upgrade. Crypto Tony argued that the larger transaction limit could give Solana an advantage over Ethereum, which does not have a fixed protocol transaction-size limit. Ethereum is also pursuing network changes, and Vitalik Buterin has teased a major upgrade focused on making the blockchain more resistant to quantum-computing threats.
The Sept. 9 upgrade follows an uptrend that began Aug. 17, but the latest price action shows momentum weakening as SOL trades near triangle support. For now, $107 and $84 define the chart’s immediate range.
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