Solana (SOL) appears to be taking a bit of a breather early on Monday after rallying to a new ATH over a weekend of volatile trading but is likely to resume its upward climb, supported by the positive mood among investors towards cryptocurrencies in general. At the time of writing, SOL/USDT is trading at around $73.74.

The potential Ethereum killer that promises super-high transaction speeds and low gas fees has a lot going for it. But powering the current rise is the upbeat market sentiment in the wider crypto sector, with traders cheering Bitcoin’s return above the key $50,000 mark helping other altcoin, Solana included, make their way higher.

Solana has also been in the spotlight as a promising contender against Ethereum in the DeFi and NFT space, especially ever since the successful launch of the Degenerate Ape collection on its own NFT marketplace, Solanart. This was the main driver that helped SOL touch a new ATH and since then, it has caught the attention of more investors that have gone on a buying spree and taken its price higher as a result.

However, analysis on Messari reveals that trading volume in Solana has been sliding lower – a possible sign of declining interest in the cryptocurrency. In case this extends any further, we could see the bullish action of late cool down and the SOL price slide lower in the near-term.

Another factor that could exert some bearish pressure on the SOL token is emerging news of a possible ‘rug pull’ on a recently launched high APY yield farm on the Solana ecosystem, Luna Yield. The yield farm was incubated by the blockchain’s launchpad, SolPad on August 16 and according to on-chain analysis, its investors have suffered a loss of around $8 million in various crypto assets pulled out by Luna Yield’s developers.

Key Levels to Watch

On the 4-hour price chart of SOL/USDT, we can see a bearish bias among the smaller timeframe moving averages as well as leading technical indicators MACD and momentum. However, the larger MAs are still suggesting interest among buyers.

Solana’s price is holding above the pivot point at $69.01 but is under the first resistance level at $85.76. An uptick in buying pressure can see SOL break past this level, which opens the door to $90. However, buyers could encounter resistance again at $98.74 before the price crosses the key $100 mark.