Solana surpasses Ethereum in DEX volume but SOL traders remain indifferent.

Solana (SOL) and Ethereum (ETH) are facing challenges, even in terms of DEX on-chain volume.

Both control about 50% of the total trading volume. However, Solana has a slight advantage with 25.36%, while Ethereum follows at 23.3%. This narrow gap indicates that the underlying liquidity is almost equal.

Regarding on-chain data, the advantage of SOL is due to the fundamental factors of the network (high throughput, extremely low fees, and transaction completion time of under 1 second). But will this relative performance translate into stronger long-term acceptance?

Solana witnesses explosive activity but quickly changes

High DEX volume directly reflects the on-chain throughput of Solana. Solana averages only $0.043 per transaction, compared to $0.43 for Ethereum. This means SOL can move value 10 times for every dollar spent, optimizing for high-frequency swap transactions without congesting the network.

This is one of many indicators showing why Solana leads DEX activity, with over 750 million trading addresses. However, 96.6% of these, about 720 million, have a lifespan of less than 1 day, indicating a massive address turnover.

!()https://img-cdn.gateio.im/social/moments-f1bda663877e00aad7e8de9fac1722ec[sol]Source: XNIn simple terms, the outstanding indicators of Solana may be inflating the actual level of adoption.

The chart shows that there are only over 1.8 million addresses that have been active for more than a year, accounting for only 0.2% of the total number of addresses. This highlights that the level of long-term commitment to the network remains limited, despite the extremely high throughput.

In other words, over 96% of SOL addresses "come and go" in less than a day, pursuing fast transactions and volatile liquidity, which creates a significant difference for Solana's long-term market position.

**SOL trapped in the hype spiral

Q3 marks an important turning point for Solana. SOL reached $241 billion in DEX volume from July to August, surpassing Ethereum at $234 billion. However, it is still down nearly 50% compared to ETH's price increase of 72% from a baseline of $2,500.

In fact, the difference is also evident in the SOL/ETH ratio. With a decrease of 24.16% from the opening level of 0.06, this ratio recorded the worst quarterly performance since 2022, signaling Solana's relatively weaker position.

!()https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-31feecc8e5f27f0022b2aa5678e2c864.webp[SOL]SOL/ETH price chart | Source: TradingViewIn summary, this correction indicates that the fundamentals of Solana may be exaggerated. The high DEX throughput appears strong on-chain, but short-term trading cycles show weak user retention and limited long-term acceptance, emphasizing the high volatility of the market and the cautious stance of investors.

As a result, SOL could continue to experience significant volatility, with on-chain activity far exceeding the network's actual acceptance levels. Therefore, investors are easily influenced by short-term fluctuations rather than achieving sustainable growth.

Minh Anh