Solana: Amid rising ETF inflows and whale demand, will SOL break $97?

Solana [SOL] is now attracting the attention of major crypto players amid the ongoing market recovery. On the 9th of May, SOL climbed more than 6.50% and was trading at $93.71 for the first time since the 18th of March.  Rising prices have also boosted traders’ and investors’ confidence, as evidenced by the trading volume, which surged over 20% to $5.12 billion, as per CoinMarketCap data.  Solana: Growing whale and institutional demand  Amid this market recovery, a crypto whale purchased a massive 67,648 SOL worth $6.23 million after remaining dormant for seven months, according to crypto transaction tracker Lookonchain. In fact, institutional demand has also been observed through spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), as reported by analytics platform SoSoValue. Data shows that on May 8, 2026, U.S. spot SOL ETFs recorded inflows of $6.23 million. Besides all this, the derivatives platform CoinGlass reveals that not only whales and institutions are bullish on crypto, but intraday traders are also following the same trend. Data from the SOL exchange liquidation map, $90.70 on the downside and $94.50 on the upside, are the two major liquidation levels. At these levels, traders are heavily overleveraged, with $174.48 million worth of long positions and $42.75 million worth of short positions built up, indicating that bulls are expecting the price to move higher.  These transactions indicate that demand for SOL is growing and that the cryptocurrency has strong upside potential.  SOL daily chart signals key resistance ahead  According to the daily chart on TradingView, Solana currently has a bullish bias, but it is approaching a major sell wall. The chart shows that $97.40 is a key resistance level for SOL, as it has a history of triggering price reversals. The last time SOL reached this level, it faced strong selling pressure, causing the price to drop from $97.40 to $76.85. Based on the current price action, if SOL maintains its current momentum, it could easily break above the key hurdle of $97.40. However, a further upside rally would only be possible if SOL’s daily candle closes above that resistance level. If that happens, SOL could witness a price surge of more than 21% and potentially reach the $118 level. On the other hand, failure at the $97.40 resistance could once again trigger selling pressure, leading to another price decline. Whereas, the technical indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) has reached 68.32, which is close to the overbought zone but still has room for further upside movement. Final Summary Amid the market recovery, a crypto whale purchased 67,648 Solana worth $6.23 million, while U.S. spot SOL ETFs recorded inflows of $6.23 million. The daily chart shows that $97.40 is a key resistance level, but a daily close above this barrier could trigger a 21% price surge for SOL.