London, Feb 6, 2026, 01:12 GMT
- Standard Chartered lowered its price target for Solana to $250 by the end of 2026, down from $310, while maintaining a $2,000 forecast for the end of 2030.
- The bank notes a move away from memecoin-heavy trading, highlighting stablecoin “micropayments” instead, though it warns these may take a while to impact fees.
- SOL slipped into the mid-$70s, dropping past multiple support points that chart watchers had been monitoring.
Standard Chartered lowered its end-2026 price target for Solana (SOL) to $250 from $310, while the token tumbled below $80 amid a sharp sell-off.
The downgrade comes amid a wider crypto sell-off that’s dragged bitcoin to roughly $63,000, raising fresh doubts over which networks can sustain activity once speculative trading fades. Coinmarketcap
Solana’s 2025 trading spike was largely driven by memecoins — those highly speculative tokens — and decentralised exchanges (DEXs), which operate on blockchains instead of using a central broker. Standard Chartered now sees the next phase hinging more on stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, plus “micropayments,” where hefty fees tend to stifle small transactions.
Geoffrey Kendrick at Standard Chartered noted a shift in DEX flows, moving away from memecoin trading toward SOL–stablecoin pairs. The bank views this as a gradual change in the chain’s activity mix. Tradingview
Standard Chartered called this shift “strategically positive,” though noted it’s tougher to monetize quickly since stablecoin flows build steadily, unlike the sharp spikes seen with memecoins. The bank highlighted data showing stablecoin turnover on Solana running two to three times faster than on Ethereum. It also pointed to emerging payment protocols like Coinbase-backed x402, while maintaining a long-term target of $2,000 for Solana by the end of 2030. Investinglive
Technicians have spotted a series of failed levels. A NewsBTC report on TradingView highlighted that SOL couldn’t hold above $102, dipping below $100 and $95, while encountering resistance around $98 and $102. The analysis identified $90 and $85 as crucial support zones, with $82 and $74 emerging as potential targets if selling pressure intensifies. It also pointed out that the MACD and RSI—key momentum indicators—are trending downward. Tradingview
FXStreet reported in its Asian market wrap on Wednesday that SOL slipped below $100 after dropping more than 6% the day before, despite on-chain data showing a record 150 million daily transactions on Tuesday. The same update highlighted bitcoin’s close beneath the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement—a key technical level—and cautioned that a daily close under $73,072 could push prices down toward $70,000. Fxstreet
SOL was changing hands near $75.94 early Friday, having fluctuated between around $68.69 and $92.90 in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap data. Coinmarketcap
Standard Chartered’s optimistic outlook depends on fresh payment-style use cases gaining traction quickly enough to make up for the fee surge driven by memecoin trading. If that shift slows — or risk-off pressure triggers more liquidations — Solana may keep falling behind bigger competitors despite its low-fee appeal.
Traders are closely monitoring if the sell-off finds support around the mid-$70s mark and whether the stablecoin turnover trend the bank pointed out continues to diverge further from Ethereum.
