Solana (SOL) plunged hard on Friday, June 13, but despite the price drop, on-chain data indicates Solana’s usability and performance show underlying strength. The news sent Solana’s price plummeting more than 10% from a daily high of $160 to a low of $140. It has bounced back some since then and is trading around $147 as of writing this. Even amidst this bear market, off exchange activity and whale movement showcase a more nuanced picture.

Solana exchange flows on June 13 with the day on a net negative flow of about $35 million. Though data showed that $359.5 million entered exchanges, a much larger figure of $394.7 million came out of them. Given this disjoint between price action and exchange inflow activity, we have to ask the question of who is driving the market and why.

Trading volume for Solana exploded, seeing a 93% increase over a 24-hour period. Open interest experienced a significant boost, rising 17% during the same period. The futures trading community is in a tactical retreat. Open interest has plummeted 13% to $6.38 billion as traders started unwinding their positions, which has resulted in a big 21% spike in trading volume.

Adding a further layer of complexity, Solana whales participated in shady off-exchange movements. Since the incident involved the transfer of over $323 million in SOL — or 15% of Solana’s average daily trading volume — between anonymous wallets, concerns naturally arose. These very large transfers happened completely off-exchange, indicating storing up or tactical reshuffling by major holders.

A 14-day high in exchange inflows also happened during the price drop. This increase implies that retail traders were probably just scrambling to sell. This is in stark contrast to the whales’ activity, whose off-exchange accumulation indicates a much more bullish, longer-term outlook. These and other aspects of Solana’s ascent—such as by its increasing institutional footprint and developing decentralized finance ecosystem—could explain what’s driving this divergence.

The near-term outlook for Solana remains mixed. The long/short ratio is 49.3% long / 50.7% short, so sentiment is bearish. Whales have built up serious amounts off-exchange. This change in behavior suggests that some market participants believe the price decline represents a once-in-a-generation buying opportunity.