Solana on-chain liquidity beats centralized exchanges on pricing

$SOL trading shows significant strength in its on-chain component. Some of the available liquidity translated into better prices for $SOL.

$SOL is significantly represented on decentralized exchanges. Its native Solana trades offer some of the best market prices, an improvement on centralized price discovery.

Native Solana trading competes with the biggest exchanges, like Binance and OKX, for offering the best price. The arbitrage is unstable, as DEX trading often switches positions with centralized markets.

Prop AMM boost Solana volumes

Despite this, native decentralized $SOL trading has sufficient market depth and often surpasses the prices quoted on centralized exchanges. The main reason behind the improved price discovery is proprietary automated market makers (Prop AMM), specialized liquidity pools that offer efficient trading at specific price ranges.

$SOL on-chain trading often offers better prices than top centralized exchanges. The main reason is Prop AMM, specialized decentralized exchanges with deeper liquidity. | Source: Dune Analytics.

In the past month, Prop AMM exchanges took over, compensating for some of the lagging DEX volume. The space became more competitive with new launches, leading to improved liquidity for $SOL.

$SOL trades with price anomalies on other chains

Some on-chain trading venues are not as efficient. WSOL, the wrapped version of $SOL on Ethereum, Base, and BNB Chain, trades within a vastly different price range.

WSOL ranges between $102 and $95, depending on the chain. Unfortunately, these markets offer limited chances for arbitrage, as some are extremely illiquid. Those chains also incur additional trading and bridging costs.

The Solana network is currently re-evaluating its use cases and the role of $SOL. DEXs are still important, though overall trading volumes have fallen by nearly 90% since October 2025.

What will $SOL treasury companies do in a bear market?

$SOL is seen as a leading indicator for crypto sentiment. The token reflects the sentiment of retail traders, on-chain risk-takers, and new tokenization trends.

Currently, treasury entities hold over 20M $SOL, with no net changes in their treasuries for months. The treasury companies are not yet selling, and around 50% of the treasuries are staked.

One of the opportunities is to tap native $SOL staking as a source of liquidity. This would encourage large entities and treasury holders to preserve their stake, while vitalizing the DeFi activity on Solana.

Jupiter recently introduced a new tool that could tap all natively staked $SOL as a liquid token.

$30B of $SOL is natively staked.

The largest pool of capital on Solana, earning yield but locked out of DeFi.

That changes today.

Introducing Native Staking as Collateral, now live on Jupiter Lend 👇 pic.twitter.com/rpL2xk3e04

— Jupiter (@JupiterExchange) February 16, 2026

The new liquidity opportunity will be available for all Solana validators from inside the Jupiter app. While some DAT companies have staked their $SOL in liquid staking protocols, native staking has remained linked to its basic return from block rewards and fees. Jupiter has unlocked additional value on Solana, while also retaining the passive income and security of native staking.

Historically, $SOL has been known for prolonged bear markets, with silent accumulation. This time, $SOL trades at a higher baseline, but it still raises the issue of whale holders liquidating some of their positions.