How to Buy Solana (SOL) in 2025: A Beginner's Guide & Investment Analysis

Solana is no doubt one of the biggest blockchain networks in crypto, and a top contender in the race to build the future of the decentralized internet. If you’re looking to buy crypto online and invest in this high-speed blockchain, where do you start?

Solana stands as a leading Layer-1 blockchain known for its incredibly fast transaction speeds and low fees, making it a hub for DeFi, NFTs, and particularly meme coins. The network achieved 100,000 transactions per second in August, setting it apart as a fast alternative to networks like Ethereum.

This guide will provide a simple step-by-step process for beginners on how to buy Solana and a balanced analysis of Solana as a long-term investment for 2025 and beyond.

Solana price: source: CoinGecko

How to Buy Solana (SOL): A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Step 1: Choose a Crypto Exchange

The easiest way to buy SOL is through a major reputable centralized exchange like Binance and Coinbase, or reputable wallets like Digitap, which offers a vast range of cryptocurrencies to select from.

Step 2: Create and Verify Your Account

Create an account by providing personal information, including email, password, and completing the Know Your Customer identity verification. All legal exchanges are required by law to collect this data as an anti-money-laundering measure.

Verification typically requires uploading a government-issued ID. The verification process can take anywhere from minutes to weeks, depending on the exchange and demand. Most major exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken offer streamlined processes completed within hours.

Step 3: Deposit Funds

After verification, deposit fiat currency into your exchange account. Most exchanges support bank transfers, debit cards, credit cards, and sometimes PayPal or wire transfers. Different payment methods may incur different fees.

Credit cards typically involve higher fees of three to five percent but offer instant access. Bank transfers have lower fees but may take several business days.

Using credit or debit cards is one of the quickest ways to buy Solana online, providing convenience and speed for beginners despite higher transaction fees.

Step 4: Buy Solana (SOL)

Navigate to the trading section and search for Solana or SOL. Most exchanges offer multiple trading pairs such as SOL/USD, SOL/EUR, or SOL/USDT. For beginners, execute a market buy order, which purchases SOL at the current market price instantly.

Enter the amount of SOL you want or the fiat currency you want to spend. The exchange will calculate the corresponding amount based on the current price. Review transaction details, including fees, then confirm your purchase.

Step 5 (Optional but Recommended): Move Your SOL to a Private Wallet

While keeping SOL on exchanges is convenient for trading, moving it to a private digital wallet provides enhanced security and true ownership.

The Digitap wallet allows users to transfer crypto with ease. To transfer SOL, set up your wallet, generate a Solana address, then withdraw from your exchange to that address. Double-check the address as blockchain transactions are irreversible.

Is Solana a Good Investment for 2025?

The Bull Case: The Pros

High Performance

Solana is one of the fastest and cheapest blockchains operational. The network hit 100,000 transactions per second in August, far surpassing other top Layer 1 blockchains such as Ethereum, which processes 20 to 30 TPS. SOL leverages a unique hybrid consensus model, Proof of History combined with Proof of Stake, enabling mass-market scale applications.

This technical superiority enables use cases impractical on slower chains: real-time gaming, high-frequency trading, micropayments, and social media applications all require Solana’s speed and cost efficiency.

Strong Community and Ecosystem

Solana has a vibrant and rapidly growing ecosystem. Developers flock to build on Solana for DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, gaming platforms, and real-time trading tools. Over 200,000 meme coins were reportedly launched on Solana, demonstrating its dominance in speculative trading.

Solana’s DeFi ecosystem continues to grow, with a total value locked (TVL) of $9 billion in November, according to DeFiLlama data. This demonstrates genuine user adoption. Major protocols like Jupiter and Kamino Finance lead the largest DeFi volume on Solana, with $2.8 billion and $2.5 billion in TVL, allowing users to earn crypto rewards through yield farming and liquidity provision.

Solana DeFi TVL. Source: DeFiLlama

Proven Resilience

After nearly disappearing following FTX’s collapse in 2022, Solana has roared back to become one of the most important blockchains for Web3. When FTX, Solana’s biggest institutional backer, imploded, many predicted Solana would follow. Overall, throughout 2022, Solana’s price plunged over 90%, falling from an all-time high above $250 in 2021 to below $10 due to its close financial ties with FTX and Alameda Research’s forced liquidation of SOL holdings. The token has since then recovered over $100 and hit an all-time high of $293 in January 2025, according to CoinGecko data.

The Bear Case: The Cons

Past Network Outages

While stability has improved, Solana has had multiple network outages each year since its inception. The network went completely offline for hours on several occasions in 2021 and 2022, requiring coordinated validator restarts.

Intense Competition

Solana faces competition from other high-performance blockchains, including Ethereum’s Layer-2 ecosystem. Networks like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base offer Ethereum’s security while approaching Solana’s speed and efficiency. Newer Layer-1 competitors like Aptos and Sui have launched with similar specifications and significant venture backing.

FTX Token Overhang

The bankrupt FTX still holds large amounts of SOL that will be sold off over time, potentially creating selling pressure. FTX’s estate holds tens of millions of SOL tokens that must be liquidated to repay creditors, representing a significant supply that will enter markets regardless of price conditions.

Price Predictions and Analysis

Analyst forecasts paint a broadly bullish picture for Solana in 2025 and the coming years, projecting potential price levels ranging widely due to crypto volatility and evolving fundamentals.

Technical analysis provides crucial context underpinning these forecasts. Solana’s chart pattern for 2024–2025 indicates a classical “cup and handle” bullish formation, which often precedes sustained upward price movements. This technical setup has fostered investor optimism, particularly as price action has respected the critical support zone at $111 in 2025, reinforcing confidence in long-term demand.

Technical outlook of Solana:source: Tradingview

Short-term price action has seen consolidation and some retracement from mid-2025 highs around $295. Despite periodic pullbacks, Solana’s weekly and daily charts illustrate well-defined support levels between $140 and $180.

These zones represent crucial buying interest, as technical momentum indicators like the Relative Strength Index (RSI) have oscillated near neutral to moderately oversold levels, suggesting that downside pressure is constrained, and rebounds remain plausible.

Investors monitoring live crypto prices will notice that volume analysis indicates periodic surges associated with both pullbacks and rallies, underscoring healthy market participation rather than thin liquidity or speculative anomalies.

The moving average convergence divergence (MACD) oscillator has generally maintained a positive bias over the medium term, with bullish crossovers signaling continued accumulation phases during pullbacks.

Price resistance around $260 remains a pivotal level for 2025. A confirmed close above this mark on strong trading volume would potentially trigger significant upside momentum with technical price targets in the $300–$400 range, aligning with several expert price models. Such a breakout would validate the cup and handle pattern completion and likely attract renewed institutional and retail buying interest, further accelerating price gains.

Solana Cup and handle formation. Source: Tradingview

Beyond 2025, long-term charts reveal a series of higher highs and higher lows over multi-year frames, hinting at the establishment of an enduring upward trend. This trajectory is supported by continued ecosystem expansion, including growing decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL), NFT marketplace adoption, and developer activity uniquely suited to Solana’s high throughput and low fees.

Conclusion

Buying SOL is straightforward through major exchanges like Digitap. The entire process from account creation to holding SOL in a private wallet can be completed within hours. The combination of user-friendly exchanges and simple wallet options makes Solana accessible even to crypto newcomers.

Solana is widely considered one of the most promising long-term investments in crypto and a core holding for many serious investors. Its technical advantages in speed and cost, combined with a thriving developer ecosystem and proven resilience, create a compelling value proposition. The network’s comeback from the FTX collapse demonstrates genuine product-market fit beyond hype cycles.

Ready to dive into the Solana ecosystem? After buying your SOL, use Digitap to explore the world of Solana DeFi and NFTs with a secure and powerful portfolio tracker.

FAQs

What is the best wallet for Solana?
Phantom is widely regarded as the best wallet for Solana due to its user-friendly interface, robust security, and seamless integration with Solana-based decentralized apps, DeFi platforms, and NFT marketplaces.

Is Solana faster than Ethereum?
Yes, Solana is significantly faster than Ethereum. It processes thousands of transactions per second with block times around 400 milliseconds, compared to Ethereum’s roughly 15 transactions per second.

Will Solana ever have another outage?
Solana has experienced multiple outages in the past, which were due to network congestion, bugs, or coordinated attacks.

What is the price prediction for Solana?
Analyst price predictions for Solana in 2025 range from $200 to $1,000, with an average forecast around $425 to $500 based on ecosystem growth, potential ETF approval, and increasing DeFi and NFT adoption.

What is the best memecoin on Solana?
While the memecoin space is highly speculative and volatile, popular memecoins built on Solana include Samoyedcoin (SAMO), which has a strong community and developer backing.