Early on Friday, Solana (SOL) is experiencing some bearish price action as its price slips below the $150 level a day after rallying higher on the back of an upbeat market sentiment in the wider crypto sector. At the time of writing, SOL/USDT is trading at around $143.68.

Despite the cautious mood in the market at present, there are several exciting fundamental developments that can send Solana’s price higher in the near term once the investor sentiment firms up. The potential Ethereum killer has seen its adoption among projects and users soaring lately, even as it enjoys rising attention among institutional investors as well.

Solana’s Fundamental Developments Offer Promise

One of the biggest developments that can lend support to SOL is a DeFi platform on its blockchain, Orca, raising $18 million in its Series A funding round. The DEX platform’s funding round was led by Polychain, Placeholder and Three Arrows and will utilize these funds towards making Orca the go-to swap for Solana’s ecosystem.

Meanwhile, decentralized fund management and investing platform Solrise Finance has recently announced a partnership with Civic Technologies to create a permissioned DEX Solrise DEX Pro on the Solana blockchain. Built on Serum – another DEX on the same network, Solrise DEX Pro adds a flexible digital identity layer to DeFi, which would make it more attractive for institutional investors.

Solana is also attracting attention from the online gaming community, with CryptoGames – a leading crypto-oriented online casino, will allow its users to play on its platform using SOL. Players can now use their Solana holdings to make deposits and play online casino games on the CryptoGames platform, opening up a whole new avenue of adoption and use for the cryptocurrency.

The blockchain network has also been busy on the NFT front, with SolPlugs recently announcing a new NFT gaming platform on Solana. SolPlugs will be first virtual claw machine on the potential Ethereum killer and is expected to launch early next month. With plans to be developed into a full-fledged online gaming arcade, it will also allow users to win NFTs even as it gears up to launch its own NFT as well.

Key Levels to Watch

Taking a look at the 4-hour price chart of SOL/USDT, we find a mixed picture, with the 200 EMA and 200 SMA as well as the MACD suggesting a bullish bias. However, most of the other MAs as well as leading technical indicators momentum and Stochastic are flashing sell signs at the moment.

Solana’s price is sitting under the pivot point at $153.92 and increased selling pressure can see it slide lower towards testing the immediate support at $132.84. However, if the crypto market sentiment picks up, we could see buyers return and take SOL back up above the PP.