Solana battles Cardano for the top-five spot as SOL market cap crosses $70B-mark

Solana's (SOL) autumn rally continued on Nov. 3 with its price and market cap hitting a new record high.

SOL surged by 7% in the past 24 hours to $236, pushing its market capitalization to over $70 billion for the first time in history. As the token wobbled near its record high levels, it flipped Cardano (ADA) briefly to become the world's fifth-most valuable crypto asset.

Currently, SOL's market cap was around $69.37 billion, just $500 shy of ADA's $69.87 billion market valuation.

Solana rallies on NFT craze

Solana battling for the top-five cryptocurrency spot came on the heels of SOL's renewed upside strength heading into the fourth and the final quarter of 2021. For instance, the Solana blockchain's native token grew by over 65% since Oct. 1. On the other hand, ADA's returns in the same period came out to be just 2.13%.

ADA underperformed primarily on "sell-the-news" sentiment. As Cointelegraph covered, the Cardano token started plunging right after it rolled out its much-awaited smart contracts functionality via a so-called Alonzo upgrade on Sept. 13.

In the days leading up to the hard fork, ADA's best year-to-date returns were around 1,630%. At press time, they came out to be around 1,050%. In comparison, SOL's YTD returns at the time of this writing were over 12,700%.

Independent market analyst Pentoshi credited the rising number of nonfungible token (NFT) projects on Solana as one of the main reasons behind its price boom, recalling a tweet from Aug. 16 that accurately predicted a bull run for the token.

$Sol has passed $Ada and taken the #3 spot Balance has been restored in the world The Endless #solana summer https://t.co/DD18hgroEJ

— Pentoshi Won’t Dm You. hates Dm’s. DM's are scams (@Pentosh1) November 2, 2021

Related: Solana secondary NFT sales reach half a billion dollars in three months

Messari's researcher Mayson Nystrom also noted a "formidable growth" of NFTs in the Solana ecosystem, noting that the blockchain processed $500 million worth of total NFT secondary sales volumes since April 2021. Excerpts:

"Whether or not Solana can manifest this initial energy into long-term NFT growth is yet to be determined, but current signs present valid reasons to be optimistic about Solana's burgeoning NFT ecosystem."

SOL to hit $275 next?

SOL's latest run-up to its record high also came as a breakout out of its Bullish Pennant structure, as shown in the chart below.

Bullish Pennants appear as the price consolidates inside a Triangle-like structure after logging a strong move higher, dubbed as Flagpole. Traders typically wait for the price to break above the Triangle's upper trendline before placing their profit target at a length equal to the Flagpole's height.

Solana's Flagpole height is rough, $175. As a result, its breakout move from the Triangle's resistance trendline (~$158) prompts SOL to grow by another $175, thereby setting its profit target above $275.

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