Solana’s market capitalization has topped $90 billion following a 10% gain on the day for SOL. This has driven token prices to just below $205, the highest level since December 2021.
Furthermore, SOL has gained a whopping 45% over the past seven days as altcoins start to move in the wake of Bitcoin’s retreat from all-time highs last week.
The big move enabled SOL to flip BNB for the fourth spot in the market cap charts, as the Binance token lost 1.5% on the day, falling to $571 at the time of writing. BNB’s market cap was $88 billion at the time of writing, ranking it fifth.
sol just flipped bnb again, balance is being restored pic.twitter.com/9ByOlFITH8
— Bluntz (@Bluntz_Capital) March 17, 2024
Memecoin Degens
Solana activity is primarily being driven by a meme coin craze as degens aped into the Book of Meme (BOME) token.
The meme coin spiked 31,000% in two days, hitting a peak price of $0.026 on March 16 before beginning its retreat.
However, as has been the case before, the Solana network became congested, resulting in transactions failing.
Other metrics for Solana are bullish, including its DeFi total value locked, which has just exceeded $4 billion, according to DeFiLlama. The figure has surged 193% since the beginning of the year, however, the price of SOL has influenced it a lot.
Other Altcoins Surging
Solana’s gains are impressive, but a handful of other altcoins are doing even better this Monday morning.
Avalanche (AVAX) has surged a whopping 17.5% over the past 24 hours to reach its highest price since May 2022. At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at $61.55 having topped $62 in Monday morning trading in Asia.
Analysts are already suggesting the Avalanche memecoins could be driving it.
$JOE has already made a HTF breakout as AVAX / AVAX memecoin szn is starting to heat up
Send it higher https://t.co/KfdIvLUhwD pic.twitter.com/hw09WkoygQ
— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) March 17, 2024
Speaking of memecoins, Shiba Inu is performing well today with a 12.7% gain.
Toncoin (TON) has pumped 16% on the day to top $4, while Near Protocol (NEAR) is up 12%, having reached $8.50 during early Asian trading.
Additionally, Bitcoin’s dominance has declined around 3% so far this month as it retreats, altcoins begin to bubble, and calls for altseason start to ring out again.
Many altcoins went up by 20-50% today. That’s normal after a big correction. Remember it for the next time.
But the reality is, next time a big correction occurs, you’re gonna chicken out. Again.
— Kaduna (@CryptoKaduna) March 18, 2024
This article first appeared at CryptoPotato