Solana (SOL) traded near $114 on Thursday as the Alpenglow consensus upgrade approached public testnet activation and U.S. spot Solana ETFs added $13.77 million in daily inflows.
Key Points:
- SOL held above $110 after retreating from resistance near $120.
- Alpenglow targets roughly 150-millisecond finality, compared with about 12.8 seconds under TowerBFT.
- U.S. spot Solana ETFs recorded $13.77 million in net inflows on Sept. 23.
Solana Alpenglow Testnet
SOL fell about 1.5% over 24 hours after gaining more than 13% before the reversal, while the broader crypto market dropped 2.42% to $2.84 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC) slipped below $84,000, Ethereum (ETH) fell below $2,700 and XRP (XRP) lost 5%.
The Alpenglow rollout is tied to validator adoption of Anza's Agave 4.3 software, which replaces TowerBFT consensus with Votor and is designed to let validators vote directly and finalize blocks faster. Solana's official upgrade page lists Alpenglow as in development and targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, down from roughly 12.8 seconds.
SolanaFloor said on Sept. 24 that Alpenglow was "set to go live on the testnet in less than 6 hours," while the report said the latest Anza tracker still showed testnet activation as pending. Agave is the only supported client for the initial testnet migration, with Firedancer and Frankendancer not yet supported.
Faster finality could shorten exchange deposit times, reduce bridge delays and improve settlement for decentralized applications if the rollout performs as designed. The Sept. 28 milestone cited in the report concerns broader Agave feature activation, not a confirmed Alpenglow mainnet launch.
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ETF Demand
U.S. spot Solana ETFs recorded $13.77 million in net inflows on Sept. 23, with Fidelity's FSOL leading at $6.74 million and Bitwise's BSOL adding $3.94 million. Morgan Stanley's MSOL brought in $1.55 million, while VanEck's VSOL added $1.54 million.
The funds held about $1.73 billion in total net assets, equal to 2.58% of Solana's market value, while cumulative net inflows reached roughly $1.49 billion. Daily trading volume stood at $130.47 million.
On the four-hour chart, SOL traded near $114.97 after failing to hold above $120, with $110 emerging as the nearest support area. RSI eased to 52.39 from above 70, while the MACD line at 0.92 remained below its 1.66 signal line and the histogram stood at minus 0.74.
SOL had traded near $97 the previous week before climbing close to $120, leaving the latest pullback inside a broader short-term recovery. A break below $110 would put the $105 and $100 areas back in focus, while a move through the recent $115.42 candle high would reopen a test of $120.
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