Recently, Solana (SOL) price rose by 20% between September 28 and October 6, but the market remains pessimistic about its future performance. Despite its growth in decentralized application (Dapps) usage and non-fungible token (NFT) trading volume, Solana still lags behind Ethereum second-layer solutions such as Arbitrum and Optimism in market capitalization. Additionally, Solana’s external factors outside of FTX’s bankruptcy drama also make the $23 resistance difficult to break.

Solana’s recent network upgrades have brought it greater efficiency, privacy, and security, but investors are still primarily focused on the Ethereum ecosystem as it remains a leader in developing and integrating decentralized applications. Therefore, although Solana has achieved certain gains in the short term, its market position still faces huge challenges in long-term competition.