Solana Network Upgrades Battle Bearish Technicals as SOL Tests $210 Support
Solana (SOL) is trading at about $209, which is a small gain of 3.7% over the previous 24 hours. However, technical indicators show that the
Quick overview
- Solana is currently trading at approximately $209, reflecting a 3.7% gain in the last 24 hours, but faces significant technical challenges.
- The Firedancer proposal aims to eliminate Solana's compute block limit, potentially enhancing network performance but raising centralization concerns.
- The upcoming Alpenglow upgrade is expected to drastically reduce transaction finality from 12.8 seconds to 150 milliseconds, marking a major protocol change.
- Short-term predictions indicate a potential drop to $185 or lower if Solana fails to maintain support above $214, while long-term prospects depend on successful network improvements.
Solana SOL/USD is trading at about $209, which is a small gain of 3.7% over the previous 24 hours. However, technical indicators show that the cryptocurrency is facing a lot of problems, even though the network is making good progress. Jump Crypto’s ambitious SIMD-0370 plan to abolish Solana’s fixed compute block limit has ignited debate in the blockchain world, even though the pricing action suggests that the price could go down even more.
Firedancer Proposal Aims to Revolutionize Network Performance
The Firedancer development team’s idea would change the way Solana handles network throughput in a big way. If the present 60 million compute unit block limit were removed, the network would automatically scale up or down based on the number of validators, creating what Anza Research calls a “performance flywheel.” High-performance validators would handle complicated blocks while nodes that don’t do as well would skip them. This would, in theory, encourage hardware upgrades across the network.
Alpenglow Upgrade: Solana’s Biggest Protocol Change Ever
The SIMD-0370 proposal will be put into effect after the Alpenglow upgrade, which got almost all of the votes in favor of it earlier this month and will go into testnet phase in December. Anza Research calls Alpenglow “the biggest change to Solana’s core protocol,” saying that it will cut transaction finality from 12.8 seconds to just 150 milliseconds. This huge gain could put Solana in a position to compete directly with existing internet infrastructure in terms of speed and responsiveness.
For Solana’s market position, time is quite important. Because of its fast, low-cost transactions, the network has been very popular with retailers. In fact, decentralized exchange volumes sometimes beat Ethereum’s in 2025. But past network breakdowns during busy times have shown that infrastructure needs to be improved all the time.
Solana’s Centralization Concerns Cloud Otherwise Positive Developments
Even while the concept has a lot of technical promise, it has sparked a lot of concerns about the consequences of centralization. On GitHub, engineer Akhilesh Singhania said that getting rid of block restrictions could push smaller validators out of the network as bigger operators update to more expensive hardware. Singhania said, “We might end up with fewer big validators,” which shows a basic conflict between the ideas of speed optimization and decentralization.
The idea came four months after Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder suggested extending the compute block limit to 100 million units under SIMD-0286. This shows that there is still disagreement regarding the best way to move forward. The blockchain community’s experience with Ethereum’s scaling journey teaches us to be careful. Changes to block or gas restrictions have previously caused problems with stability and centralization.
SOL/USD Technical Analysis: Bearish Near-Term Outlook?
From a technical point of view, the 4-hour chart shows some worrying signs for SOL. The altcoin has fallen below a trendline that was going up and is now challenging important support between $210 and $214. This breakdown shows that bearish momentum is growing. Analysts have found two important downside targets: the first is a support level at $185, and the second is a more severe retracement zone between $165 and $167 if selling pressure rises.
The way prices are moving right now makes it look like Solana might enter a consolidation phase or drop even more, which might lead investors to look for other ways to grow. Even while the daily increase of 3.7% suggests prudence is needed, it doesn’t seem like enough to change the overall bearish trend.
Solana Price Prediction: Short-Term Pain, Long-Term Gain
- Near-term outlook (1–3 months): If SOL can’t convincingly go back above the $214 support level, it looks like it will drop around $185, with $165–$167 being the worst-case scenario. At these levels, traders should look for volume confirmation.
- Medium-term outlook (3–6 months): If the Alpenglow testnet deployment goes well in December, it might provide strong support and provide a price floor around present levels or the $185 range. How the market reacts to the Firedancer idea will be very important.
- Long-term outlook (6–12 months): If network enhancements operate as promised and centralization issues are properly dealt with, SOL could reach new all-time highs. The big drop in finality times and the rise in throughput capacity would make Solana a lot more competitive.
- Check out our free forex signals
- Follow the top economic events on FX Leaders economic calendar
- Trade better, discover more Forex Trading Strategies
- Open a FREE Trading Account
Save