Solana's $1.8 Billion Leverage Trap: Will Traders Pay the Price for Conviction?

A surge in leverage on Solana's futures market is raising concerns about a potential $1.8 billion trap for traders.

The aggregated funding on SOL perpetual futures has reached its highest level since September 2025, with long traders paying around 0.01% every eight hours to hold leveraged positions, according to Velo data.

This means that traders are willing to pay a recurring cost to stay leveraged into the bet, which can lead to a self-reinforcing cycle if spot demand and network usage accelerate alongside the positioning.

However, if those readings remain flat or fall, the same positioning turns into expensive longs that get more costly to hold every day.

Solana's price is currently trading in the upper-$70s, with a level of $80 serving as a key resistance point. A sustained break above this zone could shift attention toward the 200-day moving-average region near $90, while a failure back toward the low-$70s would weaken the recent recovery structure.

The stablecoin supply on Solana remains below its March peak of around $17 billion, and DeFi-native speculation is not matching the strength of CEX leverage. Meanwhile, Bitwise's research found that Solana and other major chains have become busier and cheaper even as their tokens have fallen sharply from 2025 levels.