Solana (SOL) Staking Balance Adds 2.83M SOL Worth $297M in September

SOL Staking Inflows Reach $297M in September

Solana (SOL) locked-in capital kept climbing through September, with the staking balance expanding by roughly 2.83 million SOL during the month — about $297 million at the 30-day moving-average price of $105.86. On-chain staking data tracked via StakingRewards.com shows the total staked supply reached 496.96 million SOL, equivalent to 69.33% of circulating supply. What makes the inflow notable is its timing: the network's staking reward rate fell 3.28 points to 5.08% over the same window, so investors were locking capital even as yields declined — a pattern that reads as conviction rather than yield-chasing. Locked positions also shrink the liquid supply available for immediate sale on spot trading venues, a supply mechanic that plausibly fed into price. The asset began September near $99.99 and traded around $118.08 at the latest data snapshot — a monthly gain of roughly 18.1% that topped Ethereum's 9% advance to $2,680 and XRP's 12% climb to $1.53. The staking ratio itself ticked up 0.84 points, while staking market capitalization rose 22.31% over the trailing window, according to the same dataset. Institutional staking exposure has broadened in parallel: as we covered recently, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest added 5,589 shares of the 3iQ Solana (SOL) staking ETF. For readers weighing an entry, our How to Buy Solana (SOL) in 2026 guide walks through the process step by step, and our Solana coverage hub tracks the token's broader setup as the month's gains put it squarely in bull market territory.

Garlinghouse Backs SOL, Rejects XRP Maximalism

September's price strength also had a supply-side catalyst from the network itself. On September 15, the Solana Foundation activated an upgrade raising the layer-1 network's maximum transaction size from 1,232 bytes to 4,096 bytes, effective at the start of epoch 1,035 around 01:00 UTC — the change, documented in the official announcement, lets developers pack zero-knowledge proofs, multisig logic and new on-chain signature schemes into a single transaction. A v1 transaction format shipped alongside it, with backward compatibility preserved for existing transactions. The upgrade followed August's reduction of slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds, which cuts latency and speeds finality — a track Anza is extending with its Alpenglow public testnet targeting 150ms finality. Validators also moved on issuance: on August 28 they approved a proposal to double the network's annual disinflation rate, reducing future SOL emissions. The fundamental backdrop is now drawing endorsements from unexpected corners of the industry. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said this week that he personally holds a small amount of SOL and is not an XRP maximalist, urging investors instead to buy the top five digital assets by market capitalization and hold them for about five years. He stressed that he does not view Solana as Ripple's direct competitor, maintains friendly relations with people on Solana-related projects, and pointed to the network's memecoin activity as one of the forces pulling liquidity on-chain. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bitget.

COINOTAG Composite Flags $122.32 Resistance

Per COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine, the live spot price of $120.94 sits just under the $122.32 resistance, which scores a STRONG 73/100 on the confluence of Bollinger Band Upper, Donchian Upper and Fibo 0.000; the nearest support at $115.92 rates an even stronger 77/100 from Flip R→S and Pivot Point sources. RSI at 68.57 with a bullish MACD confirms the uptrend. Derivatives positioning is constructive but crowded: funding at 0.0013%, open interest of $2.56 billion and a long/short account ratio of 1.75 skew long, while the Fear & Greed reading of 71 (Greed) warns of froth. A clean break above $122.32 opens the $135.14 level; losing $115.92 would invalidate the bullish thesis and expose $113.61.