Solana Price Trapped in Range, Whales Accumulate Token Ahead of Alpenglow Upgrade

Solana (SOL) has been gaining attention lately due to its ongoing momentum. Despite being stuck in a trading range for months, the token's price has managed to recover from its heavy selloff and is now hovering around $86.89. This relative strength has caught traders' attention again.

The SOL price is still trapped between major support and resistance levels, with the current range between $72 and $126 remaining largely unchanged. The Elliott Wave structure analysis suggests that this range-bound market may be a corrective phase before a larger move develops. Until the price breaks through the $88.50-$96 resistance area with strong volume, traders will view the market as corrective rather than fully bullish.

However, on-chain data shows that large investors are accumulating SOL, which could be a sign of a bigger move to come. Two newly created wallets accumulated over $9.7 million worth of SOL from Binance and FalconX, while the top 100 Solana wallets increased their holdings by nearly 60% in a single day. Additionally, ETF demand for Solana has been strong, with spot investment products pulling in $39 million in net inflows last week.

The upcoming Alpenglow consensus upgrade is also expected to bring significant improvements to the network's performance. The goal of this upgrade is to reduce transaction finality times from 12 seconds to around 150 milliseconds, making Solana one of the fastest major blockchain networks operating at scale. This development could boost investor confidence and potentially drive the SOL price higher.

For now, traders are waiting for a confirmed breakout above resistance before taking positions. If SOL manages to break through the $88.50-$96 area with strong volume, it may target the $100 level and beyond. Alternatively, if the breakout fails again, another move towards the $81 support zone or even the broader $72-$78 demand region remains possible.