Pal emphasized Solana’s strengths

SOL caught the attention of former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal, who touted the cryptocurrency as one of the prominent altcoin options and a potential rival to Ethereum’s dominance. In a new interview, Pal highlighted Solana’s unique strengths, highlighting its unrivaled speed and performance, qualities that even led payments giant Visa to choose it as its platform of choice.

Pal revealed his excitement for SOL, calling it one of the top altcoin choices and a contender for the most promising project outside of Ethereum. The crypto expert also shed light on the growing influence of Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, popularly known as Toly, in the cryptocurrency world. Pal said: “So why does Visa use Solana? Because it’s fast. It’s fast and it does a good job.”

This idea distinguishes Solana compared to Ethereum and points to the potential for connectivity between these blockchain ecosystems. Visa’s recent announcement of its entry into stablecoin settlement capabilities in Solana further bolsters its credibility in the industry.

Despite Pal’s optimistic outlook, the charts tell a different story for Solana. On August 5, SOL experienced a bearish market structure as its price fell below the key support level at $22.73. It then fell sharply in mid-August, witnessing a staggering 23.8 percent decline from its last peak. As of now, Solana remains in the grip of this downtrend and the market structure shows no signs of a reversal yet. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains below the critical 50 points, underlining the prevailing bearish momentum. An important line of defense for the bulls is the 78.6% retracement level at $16.94.

Testing this support level could present a favorable buying opportunity, potentially targeting local tops of $25.5, $29 and the ambitious $32. However, a decline below $15.5 would invalidate hopes of a bullish reversal at the 78.6% retracement level.