Solana Tests Major Speed Upgrade as SOL Eyes $150 Target

Solana (SOL) is trading near $117, down 0.78% for the day, as the network quietly clears a critical testing milestone for its most significant structural overhaul in years. Traders looking for the next leg up should note a key metric buried in this development before placing their next order.

Developers have deployed the Alpenglow upgrade to Solana’s public testnet, aiming to reduce transaction finality from approximately 13 seconds to 0.15 seconds. This change replaces the current TowerBFT consensus mechanism with a new voting protocol called Votor.

Validators running Agave 4.3 can now test the migration on a live copy of the network without risking real funds, following more than four months of trials in a dedicated test environment.

Anza, the firm maintaining Agave, confirmed the move via its feature-gate tracker, with mainnet activation currently scheduled for around September 28.

Solana ETF demand remains firm, with $26.1M in net inflows on Sep. 21, lifting tracked cumulative flows to $1.44B. The move follows a 12-week run of weekly inflows showing continued investor interest despite recent market volatility.
Track SOL ETF flows: https://t.co/dzGj0Pj8q6 pic.twitter.com/Pgj0atkVmj

— AskClash (@AskClash) September 23, 2026

The timing is significant. Spot Solana ETFs recorded $26.1 million in net inflows on September 21, while network usage metrics show 23.2 million x402 AI-agent transactions over the trailing four weeks, suggesting that both institutional and application-layer demand are building ahead of the upgrade window.

Can Solana Price Hit $150 This Week?

The SOL/USD price is testing the lower edge of a resistance band between $116 and $123.35. A decisive break above this level would open the path toward $137.65 and eventually $144.76.

The four-hour RSI sitting near 71 presents a mixed picture: momentum is present, but this reading also signals that the market is stretched, making a pullback a distinct possibility.

Support is located around $114.67, with a deeper floor near $106.95 if sentiment deteriorates.

(Source – TradingView, SOL USDT)

Buying walls are visible at $123 and $132, with $150 emerging as the consensus upside target if both levels break.

The base case scenario sees SOL grinding against resistance leading into the September 28 Alpenglow activation, using the catalyst as a trigger for a breakout attempt.

The bear case involves a rejection at $120–$123, sending the price back to retest $114.67 and delaying the $150 target.

Traders should watch volume on any resistance test; a low-volume push through $123 would be far less convincing than one backed by significant volume.

For deeper context on how the upgrade interacts with capacity and adoption trends, see this recent Solana infrastructure update.

LiquidChain Targets Early Mover Upside as Solana Tests Key Levels

Investors holding SOL from the sub-$100 range are in a comfortable position. However, buying now, chasing a token that has risen 22.57% over seven days and pressing into resistance, involves a different risk calculus. The easy gains on this leg have largely been realized.

This dynamic is pushing some traders toward earlier-stage plays with more room to run, with cross-chain infrastructure being one of the more active sectors in this search.

LiquidChain (LIQUID) is building a Layer 3 execution environment designed to fuse Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana liquidity into a single unified layer — a “deploy-once, access-all” model for developers tired of fragmenting liquidity across chains.

The presale is priced at $0.014958 per token, with $971,680.17 raised to date. Core features include single-step execution and verifiable settlement, aimed at removing the friction of bridging between ecosystems. As with any presale, there is no secondary market yet and no guarantee that the mainnet will deliver on the roadmap, so due diligence is essential.

Those tracking the Solana-LiquidChain connection can research LiquidChain further before making a decision.

Gain Special Access to Layer 3 Trading Here

Key Takeaways

• SOL must clear the $120–$123.35 resistance band to realistically target the $132–$150 zone flagged by analysts.
• A rejection at current resistance risks a retest of $114.67 support, or a deeper drop to $106.95 on heavier selling.
• LiquidChain’s unified liquidity layer targets BTC, ETH, and Solana interoperability, with presale pricing at $0.014958.
• Alpenglow’s mainnet feature-gate activation, expected around September 28, is the next major catalyst for SOL price action.

The post Solana Begins Testing on Major Speed Upgrade: SOL Price to $150? appeared first on Cryptonews.