How will CME Group’s Solana Futures plan affect SOL’s price action?

• SOL recovered significantly on the charts, hiking by almost 20% in 24 hours
• CME group is set to launch Solana Futures on 17 March for micro-sized contracts and a larger-sized contract

Over the last 24 hours, Solana [SOL] has registered a strong upswing on its price charts. In fact, the altcoin recovered from a 6-month low of $125 to climb to $151 -A 20% recovery.

Over the same period, Solana’s trading volume spiked by 32.59% to hit $6.54 billion. Equally, Options volume climbed by 63% to $5.12 million while Open Interest surged by 14.86% to $4.6 billion.

In light of the latest price pump, the question that arises is what’s driving the upward momentum and whether SOL can hold on to it. According to AMBCrypto’s analysis, the CME Group’s latest announcement may be the good news that investors have been waiting for.

CME Group to launch Solana Futures

According to a press release from the CME Group, the leading derivates marketplace has announced plans to launch Solana Futures on 17 March, pending regulatory review.

With the launch, market participants will have the choice to trade both a micro-sized contract (25 SOL) and a larger-sized contract (500 SOL).

The Head of Crypto Products at CME group added,

“With the launch of our new SOL futures contracts, we are responding to increasing client demand for a broader set of regulated products to manage cryptocurrency price risk.”

Importantly, the CME group believes that Solana will continue to grow and evolve into the most reliable platform for investors and developers. CME Group SOL Futures will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF Solana-Dollar Reference Rate. Thus, their entry will greatly benefit all stakeholders within the ecosystem.

What it means for SOL’s price

As expected, this announcement was well received by investors, with whales turning to accumulating the altcoin. To put it simply, whales are now actively accumulating SOL.

According to Lookonchain, whales have accumulated 95,640 SOL tokens worth $14.42 million. When whales turn to accumulate, it either reflects bullish sentiments or indicates they are taking the opportunity to buy the dip.

Source: DefiLlama

This buying activity can be further confirmed by the recent drop in spot netflows. According to DefiLlama, this declined to -3.1 million from 1.29 million. When netflows turn positive, it implies that the asset is seeing more accumulating addresses than selling ones. This is also indicative of strong positive sentiments among participants as they turn to buying.

Therefore, the CME Group’s announcement has inspired market participants, including whales, to get back into the market.

Source: Coinalyze

This shift in sentiment is not only an isolated case among whales, but across all market participants. This can be evidenced by the findings of the aggregated funding rate AVG. A positive funding rate AVG implies that most investors are taking long positions and longs are willing to pay shorts a premium fee to hold their positions. This is a sign of strong bullish sentiments, with investors expecting the price to rise.

Simply put, Solana has been noting a short-term shift in market sentiments. Bulls have entered the market to displace bears and if this shift can hold for a sustained period, we could see SOL recover even more.

Therefore, the prevailing sentiment positions SOL to reclaim $169. However, if these entrants exit the market, bears will retain their hold and SOL will drop to $136.