Solana DEX’s trading volume declined to $2.61 billion on February 16, marking its lowest point since mid-December. Raydium’s volume fell by over 45%, and Orca’s decreased by nearly 30% over the past week. However, Meteora saw an 18% increase. According to data compiled by DeFiLlama, Solana’s decentralized exchanges recorded approximately $20.2 billion in trading volume for the week ending February 16, continuing a five-week downturn. The leading Layer 1 solution’s on-chain transaction volume also fell by 28% in the previous week, reaching $31.8 billion by February 10th, reflecting a broader market slump.
Meteora led in activity among the DEXs with a volume of $658 million, just behind Raydium at $836.37 million. Orca ranked third with $544.4 million. The overall decline in Solana’s DEX volume can be attributed partly to waning interest in meme coin trading, which had increased during the bull market. The emergence and quick disappearance of numerous meme coins have left traders wary of repeated pump-and-dump cycles, rug pulls, and insider trading. CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Junior also noted that meme coins are adversely affecting the Solana ecosystem, with recent incidents further eroding investor trust. A significant rug pull involving LIBRA has heightened concerns, leading to SOL’s decline—dropping over 10% in the past week and down 40% from its January peak.
Additional market pressures include the impending unlocking of 11.2 million SOL on March 1. These tokens were originally sold off during FTX’s bankruptcy and later acquired by firms such as Galaxy, Pantera, and Figure.
On Twitter, these developments continue to spark discussions about the future of Solana and the impact of meme coins on its ecosystem.
