Solana Liquidations Tilt Short as Open Interest Jumps 9.2%

Solana derivatives are showing a notable split at $120.58: total open interest has climbed to $5.41B, up 9.2% in 24 hours, while 24-hour short liquidations reached $22.0M against $5.1M for longs. The result is a market where rising leverage is meeting a strong short-side squeeze, even as positioning data still shows more accounts leaning long.

OI growth is concentrated beyond Binance

Binance remains the largest listed venue with $1.03B of SOL open interest and a 19.1% share, up 9.2% over 24 hours but down 0.3% over four hours. Gate follows with $908.7M, or 16.8% of the tracked total, after a 16.3% daily increase and a 2.9% four-hour rise. Bybit holds $838.1M, a 15.5% share, and is the most aggressive among the largest venues: its OI rose 24.1% over 24 hours and 2.2% over four hours.

Bitget adds $483.6M, or 8.9%, after a 4.9% daily gain and a 0.2% four-hour increase. The distribution matters for liquidation risk: Binance and OKX, which holds $380.4M or 7.0%, have both posted small four-hour contractions, while Gate and Bybit are still adding exposure. That suggests the current squeeze is being reinforced by newer leverage rather than a uniform expansion across every major venue.

Funding is negative, but not uniformly bearish

The funding rate landscape supports the skewed reading. Binance is charging shorts a negative rate of -0.003%, while Bitget is at -0.002%, Gate at -0.002%, and Bybit at 0.010%. OKX is mildly positive at 0.002%, and BitMEX is also at 0.010%. In practical terms, the negative readings at several large venues show that short positioning remains crowded enough to receive funding, but the positive Bybit and BitMEX rates show that the market is not aligned around a single directional trade.

Account positioning is long-heavy overall, with 62.3% of accounts long, yet the active-flow reading is much less optimistic: only 47.3% of taker volume is long. At venue level, Bybit accounts are 67.8% long and Bitget accounts 72.9% long, while Binance accounts are 60.2% long. Taker flow is especially one-sided on Binance at 78.6% long, but it is closer to balance on OKX at 56.0% and Gate at 58.0%. This account-versus-taker disagreement means passive positioning is bullish, while current aggressive execution is not consistently confirming it.

Liquidations favor a short squeeze

The liquidation windows make the imbalance clearer. In the last hour, only $461 of shorts were liquidated and no longs were recorded. Over four hours, long liquidations reached $158.9K versus $20.6K for shorts, but the 24-hour picture reverses sharply: $22.0M of shorts were liquidated against $5.1M of longs. Across 12 hours, the split is narrower, with $920.7K in longs and $652.5K in shorts.

The largest recorded event was a $922.7K Binance short liquidation at $123.02. OKX then logged short liquidations of $585.0K at $118.92, $552.1K at $120.19, and $454.5K at $122.67. These prints show that both sides can be forced out around the current trading zone, but the larger daily total confirms that upside movement has recently punished short leverage more severely.

Verdict: SOL has a bullish liquidation skew but a fragile confirmation structure. The key zone is $120.58 against the $123.02 liquidation trigger, with total OI at $5.41B; a move through $123.02 while OI holds at or above $5.41B would validate continued squeeze pressure. That view is invalidated if price loses $118.92 while OI contracts from $5.41B, signaling that leverage is unwinding rather than forcing another upside chase. Data as of 16:05 Beijing time on Sep 26, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.