Solana: Here’s why SOL’s slip below $100 signals a textbook bear trap

ambcryptoPublished on 2026-02-05Last updated on 2026-02-05

Abstract

Solana (SOL) has fallen below the critical $100 support level, signaling a potential bear trap. Repeated support breaks and long-side liquidity sweeps have eroded investor confidence, triggering a liquidation cascade and nearly $100 million in long position losses. This bearish momentum is reinforced by rising open interest and negative funding rates, indicating aggressive short positioning. However, underlying fundamentals remain strong. Despite the price decline, Solana's network activity has reached an all-time high in daily transactions, and its staking rate holds above 68%, reducing liquid supply. A notable whale movement of 100k SOL into staking further suggests accumulation. This divergence implies the sell-off is driven by market-wide FUD and short speculation rather than fundamental weakness, creating conditions for a potential short squeeze and bear-trap reversal if market sentiment shifts to risk-on.

Every support break keeps chipping away at investor patience.

From a structural view, bulls need to step in and defend key levels to slow the bleeding.

However, at the current market positioning, bears clearly hold control, evident in the 90%+ long-side liquidity sweeps.

Solana [SOL] reflects this move. Four red candles have pushed SOL below key support, leaving HODLers underwater and raising the risk of further downside as fading patience turns unrealized losses into realized selling.

The result? A liquidation cascade.

When bulls failed to defend the $100 level on the 2nd of February, a long squeeze wiped nearly $100 million in positions over the next three days, pulling SOL back toward the Q1 2024 level.

In short, SOL’s bearish structure is being reinforced by liquidity sweeps and repeated support breaks, both of which erode FOMO and trigger forced exits. Against this setup, positioning for downside makes clear strategic sense.

Backing this momentum, Solana’s rising Open Interest (OI), combined with negative funding, showed that shorts were actively stacking and capitalizing on the volatility, while longing into persistent FUD remains a high-risk bet.

Naturally, the key question now: Is Solana at risk of losing another major support and triggering deeper capitulation, or are shorts missing critical signals, setting up a classic bear trap if the market flips back to risk-on?

Solana tests support while reversal odds quietly grow

No doubt, Solana’s technical positioning was sitting at a key inflection point.

With market FUD still lingering, the $90 support zone remains vulnerable, especially as SOL ranks among the weakest high-cap performers this year, down roughly 28% and leaving many long-term holders underwater.

And yet, underlying network activity continues to hold up.

Daily Transactions have pushed to an all-time high, and OnChain Lens flagged a whale withdrawing 100k SOL from Bybit and moving it into staking.

As the chart showed, Solana’s Staking Rate continued to hold above 68%, despite the ongoing FUD, signaling reduced liquid supply in the market, an environment that can amplify upside if market sentiment turns risk-on.

Taken together, this shows broader market weakness is driving Solana’s latest dump rather than any real crack in fundamentals.

In other words, the softness looks largely tied to aggressive short positioning.

According to AMBCrypto, that dynamic matters.

When shorts crowd in while supply stays locked, the setup often shifts toward squeeze conditions once capital rotates back in, turning Solana’s current pullback into a classic bear-trap reversal.


Final Thoughts

  • Repeated support breaks, long-side liquidity sweeps, and fading investor patience have pushed SOL below $100, raising the risk of further downside.
  • Despite the dump, strong staking rates, rising network activity, and whale positioning suggest the pullback may be driven by shorts, setting the stage for a possible bear trap.

Related Questions

QWhat key support level did Solana (SOL) fail to defend on February 2nd, leading to a long squeeze?

ASolana failed to defend the $100 support level on February 2nd.

QAccording to the article, what two factors are reinforcing SOL's bearish structure?

ALiquidity sweeps and repeated support breaks are reinforcing SOL's bearish structure.

QDespite the price dump, what underlying network metric for Solana has reached an all-time high?

ADaily Transactions on the Solana network have pushed to an all-time high.

QWhat does the article suggest is the primary driver of Solana's latest price decline, rather than a crack in fundamentals?

AThe article suggests that broader market weakness and aggressive short positioning are the primary drivers, not a crack in fundamentals.

QWhat combination of on-chain conditions could set the stage for a bear-trap reversal in Solana's price?

AThe combination of shorts crowding in while supply stays locked (indicated by strong staking rates) sets the stage for a potential bear-trap reversal once capital rotates back in.

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