Solana is gaining more attention from major financial institutions after a new report from Fidelity Digital Assets highlighted the network’s growing trading activity and its potential role in future financial markets. According to the report, Solana accounted for approximately 15% of the trades included in Fidelity’s comparison with major US exchanges during 2026. The network also briefly recorded more weekly trades than the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), although the two markets handle different types of assets and transactions.
Fidelity published its research on November 6, examining Solana’s trading activity, transaction costs, network performance, and growing use of tokenized financial assets. Max Wadington, a senior digital assets research analyst at Fidelity, described Solana as an increasingly competitive trading platform that could become an important part of future financial market infrastructure.
Solana also highlighted the findings on November 8, pointing out how its share of the compared exchange activity had increased from just 0.30% in 2022 to around 15% in 2026. The figures suggest that trading activity on the blockchain has expanded significantly over the past few years as more users and financial applications have moved onto the network.
One of the most important findings in the report was Solana’s ability to compete with established exchanges in terms of the number of trades being processed. At one point, its weekly trade count moved above the New York Stock Exchange. However, this comparison is based on the number of transactions rather than the total dollar value of assets traded.
Solana mainly handles cryptocurrency and digital asset transactions, while traditional US exchanges deal with stocks and other regulated financial products. Fidelity also noted that a large amount of US stock trading takes place outside traditional exchanges through alternative trading systems and other trading platforms. As a result, Solana’s 15% share should not be viewed as 15% of the entire US stock market.
Despite these differences, Fidelity believes the network’s growing transaction activity deserves attention from investors and financial institutions looking at blockchain-based trading infrastructure.
Another important part of the report focused on improvements to Solana’s network performance. The blockchain has been working to make transaction processing faster and more predictable, which is particularly important for professional traders and market-making companies that depend on quick execution.
Solana’s block production times have stabilized near 400 milliseconds, while developers are working toward a longer-term target of around 200 milliseconds. The network has also increased its maximum block capacity from 60 million to 100 million compute units, allowing it to handle more transaction activity within each block.
The report also discussed Alpenglow, Solana’s upgraded consensus system, which aims to reduce transaction finality to approximately 150 milliseconds. An independent measurement recorded median finality of around 404 milliseconds shortly after the upgrade, showing that actual performance was still above the long-term target.
Fidelity also highlighted the growing importance of automated market makers and professional trading firms operating on Solana. These companies compete to provide better prices and faster transaction execution, helping attract more trading activity to the network.
Beyond regular cryptocurrency trading, Solana is also seeing strong growth in tokenized financial assets. According to figures shared by the network on November 8, monthly trading volume for tokenized assets has increased from less than $100 million to nearly $5 billion.
These assets include tokenized stocks, government debt products, commodities, and private credit investments. The growth suggests that blockchain technology is gradually being used for more than just buying and selling cryptocurrencies, with financial companies exploring ways to bring traditional investment products onto blockchain networks.
Solana has also attracted activity in the derivatives market. Fidelity reported that perpetual futures platforms operating on the network processed more than $590 billion in total trading volume over the previous 12 months.
Perpetual futures allow traders to speculate on the price movements of assets without directly owning them. These products often involve leverage and create additional demand for fast transaction processing, liquidity, and reliable trading services.
However, the growing network activity has not translated into stronger price performance for SOL. On November 8, Solana was trading near $89.59, down around 0.36% over 24 hours and 19.24% over the previous month. Its market capitalization stood at approximately $52.95 billion, while daily trading volume was around $870.4 million.
Fidelity also pointed out that Solana’s revenue depends heavily on trading activity across the network. The blockchain generates transaction-related revenue through base fees, priority fees, validator voting costs, and payments connected to transaction ordering, including Jito tips.
When trading activity increases, market makers and arbitrage traders may be willing to pay higher fees to secure faster transaction execution and take advantage of market opportunities. However, this revenue can decline when market conditions become weaker and fewer profitable trading opportunities are available.
Overall, Fidelity’s report highlights how Solana is expanding beyond its position as a cryptocurrency network and becoming a larger part of the digital trading market. Its growing transaction count, tokenized asset activity, and derivatives volume are attracting attention from traditional financial institutions. However, maintaining this growth will depend on network performance, continued demand for trading services, and the ability to generate sustainable revenue during both strong and weak market conditions.