Solana (SOL) Price hits $140, Buying Opportunity before Bitcoin Halving ?

Solana (SOL) price has rebounded 10% to reclaim $140 on April 17, after dropping as lows at $126 on Tuesday. Crucial market leverage data shows that Solana investors’ optimism is at a 5-month low.

Is this buying opportunity for new entrants or will SOL price tumble below $100 for the first time since January 2024?

Solana price performing below market average

The global cryptocurrency sector shed over $170 billion in market capitalization over the past week as risk assets groan under speculations of escalating geo-political crisis and skepticism surrounding the forthcoming Bitcoin (BTC) Having.

However, Solana price appears to have been disproportionately impacted by the bearish headwinds. Compared to other mega-cap Layer-1 coins like BTC (-11%) and ETH (-15%), SOL price has fallen nearly 38% since the start of April 2024.

In addition to the geo-political tensions in the Middle-East, Solana has battled additional negative press from incessant outages that has plagued the network during periods on intense market activity.

This may explain why the global volatility has disproportionately impacted Solana prices, compared to the market average and particularly other rival mega cap coins.

Solana Funding Rate drops to 5-month low

A close look at the Solana derivatives market trends suggest a rare window of opportunity has now opened up for prospective new entrants looking to buy-in at the bottom.

Coinglass’ Funding rate tracks fees paid between LONG and SHORT traders holding leveraged perpetual futures contract positions. It serves as proxy for tracking real-time swings in investors’ sentiment.

Positive funding rates means that LONG traders are confident of bullish price uptrend, while negative values means bears are largely in control.

On April 14, Solana funding rate swung into negative values of -0.006%. According to the chart above, this is the lowest since Nov 2, 2023.

After a 38% price decline in the April, the funding rates flipping negative could be a signal that the bottom is now in. Strategic new entrants who missed out on profits from the Solana’s parabolic price rally in Q1 2024 could now consider it perfect timing to swoop in.

If this scenario play out as predicted, fresh demand from new entrants could potentially drive Solana price into decisive rebound phase after reclaiming the $140 territory on Wednesday morning.

SOL Price Forecast: All Eyes on the $170 Resistance

Solana price has gained 9.5% within the 24-hour timeframe, but if new entrants swoop in to capitalize on the low funding rates signal, SOL will likely advance further towards $200 in the days ahead.

However, to validate this bullish prediction, Solana bulls must first flip the looming sell-wall at the $171 territory, as depicted by the 20-day SMA price indicator below.

If the bull can smash through that key resistance cluster, another leg-up towards $200 could be on the cards.

But if the bearish macro headwinds persist, SOL price will likely consolidate within the $140 – $160 channel in the near-term.