Solana Open Interest Hits $5.5B as Short Liquidations Reach $6.0M

Solana derivatives are sending a split signal at $121.75: total open interest has climbed 4.6% in 24 hours to $5.5B, while accounts are 62.3% long but active takers are only 45.2% long. The imbalance is reinforced by $6.0M in short liquidations over the same window, suggesting upside pressure is being helped by forced covering rather than a uniformly aggressive bid. Recent coverage has focused on Solana’s institutional hiring plans and settlement testing, but the immediate derivatives picture is being shaped more by positioning than by a single narrative catalyst.

OI is expanding unevenly

The exchange distribution shows that positioning is not concentrated in one venue. Binance holds 19.0% of tracked SOL open interest at $1.0B, followed by Bybit at 16.0% and Gate at 16.0%; Bitget adds 8.9%, while OKX accounts for 7.0%. Growth is strongest at Bybit, where open interest increased 13.4% over 24 hours and 2.8% over the latest four-hour reading. OKX also rose 6.6% over 24 hours, while Binance gained 5.1%. Gate’s 24-hour increase was 4.9%, but its four-hour change fell 0.7%. That contrast matters: aggregate OI is expanding, yet the latest flow is rotating between venues rather than confirming a single, synchronized build-up.

Funding is positive, but not uniformly crowded

The funding-rate map adds another layer to the divergence. Binance is positive at 0.0% after one-decimal rounding, as are OKX, Bybit and Bitget, although Bitget and Bybit sit at the upper end of the listed positive readings. Gate is also positive at 0.0%, while CoinEx is sharply negative at -0.6%. CoinEx represents only 0.01% of tracked OI, so its negative print should not be treated as the market-wide signal, but it shows that the long-side premium is not consistent across every venue. The ticker’s average eight-hour funding rate is -0.0% at the required display precision, and basis is -0.0%, with annualized basis at -18.0%. Together, those readings argue against a clean, heavily leveraged long consensus despite the account data.

Accounts lean long while takers disagree

Account positioning is clearly long-biased on the largest venues. Bybit shows 67.6% long accounts, Bitget 72.6%, Binance 59.7% and OKX 58.9%; Gate is more balanced at 52.7%. The taker split is much less uniform: Binance takers are 72.2% long, but OKX takers are 46.6% long and Gate takers are only 16.7% long. This is the core positioning divergence. Many accounts are positioned for upside, yet the traders initiating immediate transactions are not consistently buying. That can support a squeeze when price rises through nearby short liquidation levels, but it also leaves the market vulnerable if long accounts begin unwinding together.

The liquidation structure currently favors the squeeze interpretation. Shorts accounted for $6.0M of 24-hour liquidations versus $1.6M for longs. In the latest hour, short liquidations reached $1.0M while long liquidations were only $18.1K; across four hours, shorts reached $1.1M against $115.9K for longs. A major cluster printed around $122.67 and $122.73, while a sizeable long liquidation appeared at $121.05. The market is therefore caught between upside stops above price and a defined downside pressure point below it.

Verdict: The near-term bias is cautiously squeeze-oriented while SOL holds $121.05 and open interest remains near or above $5.5B, with $122.67-$122.73 marking the key upside test. A move above that liquidation zone alongside continued OI expansion would favor further short covering; a break below $121.05 with OI still elevated would invalidate the constructive view and expose the long-account imbalance. Data as of 00:05 Beijing time on Sep 27, covering Binance, OKX, Bybit and other major venues.