Solana price is up today, buoyed by a significant recovery in the broader cryptocurrency market. SOL’s rebound follows Bitcoin’s recovery back above $100,000 as a number of technical and onchain indicators point to further gains for the layer-1 token.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView revealed that SOL’s price was $230, up more than 6% in the last 24 hours and recouping all the losses incurred on Dec. 11.

The smart contract token has performed well over the last few weeks, rising more than 45% since Nov. 5, and it’s up 121% year-to-date. Its market capitalization is $109.25 billion, making it the fifth-largest crypto by market value.

Let’s look at the factors driving Solana price up today.

Solana ZK-rollups integration backs SOL’s upside

The Solana blockchain advances with ZK-rollups integration, enhancing privacy and onchain computations with innovative projects like ArciumHQ and Bonsol.

The integration of ZK-rollups marks a pivotal development for Solana as key projects such as ArciumHQ lead the charge in providing a trustless and efficient framework that allows encrypted computations to run on the blockchain.

This development also helps in privacy and security with projects like DarklakeFi and PrivateLP, focusing on building confidential, swap-based automated market makers and a market-governed anonymity protocol, respectively.

In addition, the implementation of ZK-based scaling and ZK Virtual Machines (ZKVMs) by teams such as RiscZero and Succinct Labs enables arbitrary onchain computations that are not limited by Solana’s compute capabilities.

These developments are instrumental in maintaining Solana’s edge as a blockchain capable of handling high throughput demands while ensuring privacy and security. This increases user confidence in the network and heightens demand for SOL, which positively impacts its price.

Increasing network activity backs SOL price rise

SOL’s price uptick on Dec. 11 follows an increase in onchain activity as more users engage with the network, contributing to the increasing momentum.

Data from DefiLlama reveals the total value locked (TVL) on the Solana network has increased sharply from $5.6 billion on Nov. 5 to an all-time high of $9.5 billion on Dec. 7. This 70% ascent suggests that users and developers are interacting more with the network.

Additional data provided by Blockworks Research reveals that SOL’s price increase on Dec. 11 was preceded by a sharp increase in the network’s economic activity. The chart below shows that Solana’s monthly real economic value—all revenue sources, including base fees and priority fees—increased from $158 million in October to an all-time high on Oct. 24 to the current level of $409 million in November.

Solana’s latest drop in TVL and real economic value signifies its decreasing attractiveness to developers over its rival, which reduces the demand for the native SOL token.

Moving averages are in Solana’s favor

To end an extended two-week correction, SOL found support from a major demand zone sitting on its downside. This is the area defined by the $200 level and the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) sitting at $213.

Solana retested this support zone on Nov. 11 and Nov. 16, before rallying to new all-time highs above $264 on Nov. 22.

This means that every time the price retests this zone, more buyers accumulate within this area, adding to the demand-side pressure.

However, while bouncing off this demand zone, it also encountered resistance between $230 and $242. This suggests that this is an important level that bulls need to overcome in order to secure a sustained recovery.