- Solana price has bounced back moderately in the past two weeks.
- Franklin Templeton analysts have made a bullish case for Solana.
- There is speculation that the company will file for a spot Solana ETF.
Solana price is on track for the second straight weekly gains even as other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum remains on edge. The SOL token was trading at $101.20 on Thursday, higher than the year-to-date low of $85.20.
Franklin Templeton makes case for SOL
Solana had one of the best performances in 2023 as it made a strong comeback from $8 in January to over $120 in December. This rally happened even as the network faced the risk of oversupply as the FTX Estatte dumped.
Solana’s rally also coincided with the sharp increase of tokens in its ecosystem like Bonk, Solend, Orca, and Raydium. For some time, Solana Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) were doing more volume than Ethereum.
Recently, Solana has retreated as some investors start to take profits and as its ecosystem tokens like Bonk pull back. For example, Bonk has already dropped by more than 63% from its highest point in 2023.
Still, despite these woes, Franklin Templeton is bullish on Solana. This is notable because Franklin Templeton is one of the biggest asset managers in the world with over $1.53 trillion in assets under management.
In a tweet, the company said that it was bullish on Solana as transactions in the network rose. It also observed more demand from developers in industries like DePIN, Decentralized Finance (DeFi), meme coins, and NFTs.
Solana is growing its market share in the DePin industry, where it powers popular networks like Helium and Hivemapper. Helium has created a large decentralized broadband provider while Hivemapper is working to disrupt the mapping industry.
Solana is gaining traction because of its fast transaction speeds, lower fees, and its positioning in terms of efficiency.
The statement by Franklin Templeton raised the possibility that the company will seek a spot Solana ETF soon. Besides, the SEC has already approved a Bitcoin one. The challenge is that Solana has a staking feature, which is a challenge for the SEC, which sees it as a financial security.
Solana price forecast
A closer look at the weekly chart shows that the SOL price has been in a strong bullish trend in the past few months. Recently, it has started rebounding and is up for the second straight week. SOL remains above the 50-week and 25-week Exponential Moving Averages (EMA), which is a bullish sigm. It is also above the Ichimoku cloud indicator.
Also, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the MACD indicators have continued to point upwards. Therefore, the outlook for the coin is bullish, with the next price to watch being at $126.28, the highest point in December. A break above that price will see Solana jumping to $150.
