Solana (SOL) price has formed a critical breakout resistance above $71 and analysts expect the rally to continue further towards $100.

Ethereum Layer-1 competitor Solana continues to make bold moves, rising another 15% and breaking through the key resistance level of $71. At press time, Solana (SOL) is trading at $71.71, with a market cap exceeding $30 billion. #solana

Amid strong bullish momentum, Solana extended its weekly gains to over 18% and its monthly gains to over 65%.

SOL price rises to $100?

Solana (SOL) has emerged as the only major altcoin to post a 600% year-to-date gain, bringing significant profits to holders, with the potential for more gains if Solana price exceeds $71.

Current indicators, including the relative strength index (RSI) and the moving average convergence divergence (MACD), are showing bullish signals that are consistent with optimistic predictions for Solana’s price to exceed $71.

Since the SOL price has broken through a key resistance level, analysts expect a further upside of 30%, with a minimum price target of $90. In yesterday’s news, Crypto analyst Ali Martinez said that a break above $68.2 could push SOL to $90, but warned that if support at $60 weakens, profit-taking could occur and a drop to $47 could occur.

Solana (SOL) surged more than 8% to $69, its highest level since May 2022, after a three-week cool-off from its mid-November peak. Arthur Hayes, a cryptocurrency investor and founder of the BitMex exchange, proposed a $100 price target in an X post on Tuesday, speculating on a bullish weekend for altcoins.

Solana’s DeFi Progress

The strong rise in SOL’s price also comes against the backdrop of significant progress in Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. Jito, a DeFi platform based on Solana, launched its much-anticipated airdrop on Thursday, distributing approximately $225 million worth of free tokens to Solana users around the world.

When the airdrop began at 11:00 a.m. ET, JTO tokens were priced at $6.01, with the estimated value of the 90 million tokens being airdropped being as high as $540.9 million. However, the token’s value subsequently fell 58% to $2.50, according to CoinGecko.

The airdrop is a major boon for Solana DeFi participants, with more than 54 million of the 90 million JTO tokens claimed today, SolScan reported. Eligible claimants include JitoSOL holders, Solana validators using the Jito MEV client, and users of the Jito MEV service. Jito’s roadmap indicates plans for additional token airdrops in the future.

As a contributor named Marky noted during a Twitter Spaces session on Thursday, Solana’s rapidly expanding decentralized finance protocol Kamino Finance is also preparing to launch a points program to lay the groundwork for a possible upcoming token airdrop. The launch of the points program is also seen as a precursor to expected future token distributions.