Solana's native token SOL has recently become a market focus. This high-performance public chain's core value carrier is undergoing an important technological transformation.

Speaking of SOL's role, it not only handles network transaction fees and staking security but also serves as the hub for DeFi, payments, and even real-world asset applications within the Solana ecosystem. The stronger the network performance, the richer the ecosystem applications, and the greater the value potential of SOL.

What does the upcoming upgrade landscape look like? The Firedancer client has already been launched, aiming to increase network throughput to 1 million transactions per second—what does this mean? Few public chains can currently compete at this level. Even more impressive is the Alpenglow upgrade, planned for Q1 2026, which can reduce transaction finalization time from 12 seconds to 150 milliseconds, an 80-fold improvement. This is a fundamental infrastructure breakthrough for high-frequency trading and real-time payment applications.

Signals from the institutional level should not be ignored. Western Union plans to launch the USDPT stablecoin on Solana in the first half of 2026, potentially bringing hundreds of millions of users and $150 billion in remittance flow annually. State Street Bank is also deploying its first product on Solana. The entry of these traditional financial giants indicates a shift from speculation to application within the ecosystem, with capital scale moving from hundreds of millions to billions.

From a trading perspective, the key buy-in range is $118-$130, with phased targets: $165-$200 as the first level, $260-$300 as the second, and $350-$400 as an advanced goal. Stop-loss is set below $100. With short-term technical support and long-term ecosystem growth, SOL's story is far from over.