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SOL CYCLE

Canada approves trading of first spot solana ETFs, beating US in altcoin ETF race

Canada was also the first to list a spot bitcoin ETF.

4/15/25 10:46AM

Tomorrow, Canada will be the first country to allow the trading of spot Solana ETFs. The Ontario Securities Commission approved trading of several of them, including from Purpose, Evolve, CI, and 3iQ, which Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas first reported.

Solana is the sixth-largest crypto by market cap, at $68.2 billion, according to CoinGecko. It’s also the blockchain behind many meme coins, such as trump.

Purpose Investments put out a press release on the Purpose Solana ETF, “the world’s first spot Solana ETF,” which will start trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on April 16. The product “is designed to offer direct spot exposure to Solana along with attractive staking rewards.”

Canada’s move could bode well for the slew of similar spot solana ETF filings in the US, which are pending SEC approval.

Chris Chung, founder of solana-based swap platform Titan, said Canada’s decision was no surprise.

“What is surprising is that new ETFs will engage in staking, an industry first and something both the US and Canada have been very cautious about until now,” Chung said. “While the SEC is still dragging its feet on the question of staking in ethereum ETFs, this could be the test case they need to give the green light. “

Staking essentially involves “locking up” cryptocurrency and earning rewards in return for helping to secure the blockchain. You can think of it as similar to locking up your money in a bank CD to earn interest.

Chung also said that Canada has historically led the way on spot crypto ETF approvals, with a spot bitcoin ETF (which was also a Purpose product) launched years before the US finally caught up.

“It certainly won’t take years this time, though,” Chung said. “No one wants to lose their competitive edge, and now, Canada has just upped the stakes by approving staking. The race is on now.”

Sage D. Young3/20/26

Altcoin trading activity has lost its mojo

Non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies have seen their trading volume plummet in the past five months. The combined trading volume of ethereum, XRP, solana, dogecoin, SUI, and chainlink has decreased by 60% since crypto’s October 10 liquidation event, according to Thomas Probst, a research analyst at crypto markets data provider Kaiko.

Main Altcoins Trading Volume in USD — The trading volume of ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, SUI, and LINK.

For all altcoins, spot trading volume on Binance has declined between 80% and 85% to $7.7 billion, while altcoin volume on other exchanges has dropped to $18.8 billion, down from a range of $63 billion to $91 billion in October, a Friday report from Decrypt found, citing data from CryptoQuant.

“This trend may be explained by a contraction in market liquidity over the same period,” Probst told Sherwood News. “This phenomenon is also reflected in the average 1% market depth, which stood at approximately $2.6 million before the October 10 crash and is now closer to $1.7 million when aggregated across ETH, XRP, SOL, SUI, and LINK.”

Market depth is used by investors and traders to gauge the scale of liquidity in a market. 1% market depth refers to the amount of liquidity needed to move the market by 1%.

CoinGlass’s Altcoin Season Index, a measure to assess the performance of non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies, has been sitting above 50 this week, suggesting that the current market is neither in a bitcoin dominant phase nor an altcoin season.

“Triple witching” day may put further pressure on bitcoin’s price

This is not “a favorable environment for risk assets.”

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy3/20/26

Sage D. Young

3/19/26

Hyperliquid is the “1,000 pound gorilla in the room” leading year-to-date market gains amid conflict in the Middle East

While the crypto industry has shed $564.3 billion in 2026, Hyperliquid’s native token has bucked the downtrend and jumped 54.8% year to date.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

3/19/26

Bitcoin tumbles as oil and gas prices spike and the market’s mood turns risk-off

Bitcoin ETFs reverted to outflows and bitcoin suffered $192 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours.

Sage D. Young3/18/26

Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter.

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows.

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions.

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold