A $1.8 billion leverage trap is building on Solana as traders pay 11-month high rates to defend $78
SOL perpetual futures funding has surged to its highest level since September 2025, with open interest near $1.8 billion, or about 23.1 million SOL. Major exchanges show positive funding around 0.01% every eight hours, meaning leveraged long traders are paying to stay positioned. That kind of crowded long exposure can support a rally if spot demand, network activity, and institutional flows rise with it; if not, it becomes expensive to maintain. SOL is trading in the upper $70s, with $80 as the key near-term resistance. A clean break above $80 would shift focus toward $90–$92, while failure could send price back to $75 or $72. On-chain metrics remain active but mixed: TVL is about $4.8 billion, stablecoins $15.6 billion, and daily DEX volume $1.21 billion, while 7-day stablecoin supply and DEX volume have both fallen. Solana ETF inflows total $1.1 billion, well below Bitcoin’s share of market cap. The main question is whether on-chain fundamentals can catch up before leverage unwinds.
