SOL September Gains Driven by Upgrades and Institutional Demand

In September 2025, Solana (SOL) posted a mild price gain but saw sharp volatility between the $200–$250 range following the market’s flash crash. 

Despite this, on-chain indicators such as stablecoin supply, DEX volume, and tokenized asset activity continued to surge. This suggests that the network may be undervalued relative to its true potential.

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Strong Growth Momentum

According to the latest VanEck report, Solana recorded a modest +2% performance in September 2025. However, this gain was short-lived, as the price briefly surged to $250 before dropping below $200 within a week due to a market-wide flash crash.

From a financial standpoint, Solana’s revenue fell 11% month-over-month (MoM), reflecting a general slowdown in crypto market volatility. SOL’s own volatility declined 16% MoM. The SOL/ETH ratio currently remains below its one-year trendline.

Price dynamics in SOL in September were largely driven by optimism surrounding potential SOL ETP launches and the rise of several new Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) focused on Solana. Two major DATs — Forward ($1.5 billion) and Helius ($500 million) — went live during the month, increasing institutional demand for SOL. Current estimates suggest that Solana-based DATs now hold around 2.5% of the total SOL supply, with more reportedly in the pipeline.

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Technical Upgrades: Alpenglow, Firedancer, and P-token

At the beginning of September, Solana validators overwhelmingly (98%) voted to approve the Alpenglow upgrade. The upgrade aims to reduce transaction finality time from 12 seconds to 150 milliseconds and improve validator economics, consensus stability, and overall performance.

Meanwhile, Solana continues addressing throughput limitations tied to the maximum “compute units” per block. The network plans to increase block capacity by 25% by year-end, while Jump’s Firedancer team has proposed SIMD-0370 to eliminate fixed compute-unit limits entirely.

Introduce the P-token, designed to replace the current SPL token format, to initiate a more profound architectural shift. SPL tokens are computationally inefficient, consuming roughly 10% of Solana’s blockspace per transfer. P-tokens are engineered to reduce computational demand by 95%, potentially boosting transaction throughput by nearly 10%.

Expanding Role in Tokenization and Stablecoins

Solana continues strengthening its position within global finance, particularly in stablecoins and tokenized assets. The network added $2 billion in stablecoins, totaling $14.3 billion. Thanks to its unmatched speed, efficiency, and low transaction costs, Solana could also become the “stablecoin network of Wall Street.”

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Additionally, Solana commands 60% of on-chain transfer volumes in tokenized stocks, reflecting its growing dominance in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

In September, SOL also posted $125 billion in DEX trading volume, marking the 11th consecutive month of outperforming Ethereum. Solana also led all blockchains in total revenue and 12-month revenue growth.

“Solana is 5x undervalued vs Ethereum,” RockawayX CEO noted.

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SOL Still Lagging Behind BTC and ETH

A notable factor is whale activity. According to Ted Pillows, a central entity that previously bought $1.5 billion worth of SOL, sold off 50% of its holdings within a few weeks, likely contributing to SOL’s underperformance versus BTC and ETH since their April recovery.

Although SOL remains 20% below its all-time high (ATH), Pillows believes that once Bitcoin and Ethereum reach their cyclical peaks, Solana will likely outperform both in the following market phase.

When evaluated through network performance and on-chain data, Solana appears undervalued relative to its fundamentals. Yet the gap between its technical strength and market valuation can only narrow when institutional capital begins to flow in — via ETFs, enterprise stablecoins, and RWA projects.

Following Q3 developments, investors should monitor three key factors in the coming weeks: ETF approval deadlines (October 10 and 16), stablecoin inflows and DEX volume sustainability, and whale accumulation behavior.

If these align favorably, SOL could mark the turning point toward reclaiming its ATH and positioning Solana as the next institutional star of the crypto cycle.