Why the Surge in SOL Sales Has Led to a Dropping Solana Price

On-chain analytics platform Lookonchain has shed light on the potential reasons behind the decline in Solana's price since October. The platform reports that Pump.fun, a meme coin launchpad, has sold a large quantity of SOL, resulting in nearly $500 million in cash since the beginning of October.

Key Takeaways

Solana's price has been declining significantly since October, largely attributed to substantial sales from Pump.fun.
Lookonchain reports that Pump.fun has sold 4.19 million SOL, impacting Solana’s market price.
Although six Solana ETFs launched recently have garnered $568.24 million in inflows, SOL remains down over 28% YTD and in the past 30 days.
Pump.fun has publicly denied any wrongdoing and clarified that the funds mentioned by Lookonchain relate to treasury management, not sales.

Solana

Selling Pressure from Pump.fun Contributing to SOL's Decline

Lookonchain highlighted in a recent X post that Pump.fun has been actively selling SOL, indicating that the meme coin launchpad has cashed out at least 436.5 million USDC since October 15. Additionally, the platform noted that this entity has deposited 436.5 million USDC into Kraken over the same timeframe.

Moreover, Lookonchain outlined that between May 19, 2024, and August 12, 2025, Pump.fun has liquidated a total of 4.19 million SOL, amounting to $757 million, at an average price of $181. Of this total, 264,373 SOL were sold on-chain for approximately $41.64 million, while the rest, comprising 3.93 million SOL ($715.5 million), was transferred to Kraken. The substantial sales from Pump.fun have significantly increased selling pressure on Solana's price, amplifying its decline.

It’s important to note that Solana has experienced one of the steepest declines in the current downturn of the crypto market. SOL plummeted from a peak of around $220 in October to a low of approximately $120 this month. This drop occurred even with the launch of six spot Solana ETFs during this period. Notable players like Bitwise, Grayscale, Fidelity, 21Shares, VanEck, and Canary have all introduced their SOL funds, achieving commendable inflows since inception.

Data from SoSo Value shows that these funds have recorded a total net inflow of $568.24 million since their listings. Nevertheless, Solana's price trend remains downward, partly due to heavy selling by SOL whales. Following this crash, SOL is now down over 28% year-to-date (YTD) and has also declined more than 28% in the last month.

Pump.fun Refutes Claims of Recent SOL Sales

In response to these allegations, a spokesperson from Pump.fun, known as Sapijiju, has denied any recent SOL sales and asserted that they are not responsible for the price decline of Solana. In a post on X, he described Lookonchain’s claims as completely false, stating that they have not cashed out any funds. He insisted they weren't involved in the transactions between Kraken and Circle cited by the analytics platform.

Lookonchain had asserted that, during this period, while Pump.fun supposedly cashed out 436.5 million USDC, an additional 537.6 million USDC was transferred from Kraken to Circle. In addressing the 436.5 million USDC, Sapijiju explained that these transactions are part of their treasury management strategy and represent funds from the PUMP ICO, with intentions to reinvest the capital back into the business.

As of the time of writing, the price of Solana is trading around $138, having increased nearly 4% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Solana SOL trading at $135 on the 1D chart | Source: SOLUSDT on Tradingview.com