Solana climbed to $117.23 on September 21, reaching its strongest level since January after opening at $116.80 and touching an intraday high of $119.15. SOL gained 7.37% in 24 hours, outperforming the broader crypto market’s 4.82% advance as Bitcoin broke above $86,000, Ethereum moved past $2,700 and XRP gained nearly 10%. More than $18 million in SOL short positions were liquidated, contributing to roughly $900 million in liquidations across leveraged crypto positions. Solana derivatives volume jumped 88.78% to $13.28 billion, open interest rose 10% to $7.33 billion and options volume increased 111% to $37.08 million. Traders are watching $120, followed by $125 and $130, while support is seen at $114 and $110. Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani said SOL could surpass Ethereum’s market capitalization during this market cycle; Solana was valued at about $58 billion versus Ethereum’s approximately $293 billion. Solana also generated $23 million in protocol fees over the past 30 days, compared with Ethereum’s $12.6 million. The rally follows earlier reports of substantial short liquidations, strong ETF inflows and a possible long-term cup-and-handle pattern identified by Peter Brandt.