SOLT: Not For The Faint Of Heart

Summary SOLT 2x Solana ETF targets 2x daily Solana returns via futures and swaps, but recent crypto corrections have driven extreme volatility. With a 52-week range of $2.22–$35.30 and a 1.85% expense ratio, SOLT is unsuitable for long-term holding due to volatility drag and compounding effects. Short interest has been significant, peaking at $60 million, amplifying trading volume and price swings; current short interest is 14.41% of float. SOLT is best suited for disciplined swing traders seeking to capitalize on multi-day volatility, not for day trading or buy-and-hold investors. There was a lot of anticipation concerning the introduction of SOL ETFs in the recent past, but the crypto correction has crushed these ETFs, and more so when considering SOLT 2x Solana ETF ( SOLT ), which has the aggressive goal of delivering two times the daily performance of Solana ( SOL-USD ). From its inception in March 2025, it started off well, jumping from approximately $8.00 per share on April 7, 2025, after a brief decline after it started trading. From there it soared to its abovementioned 52-week high on 9-18-2025, before plummeting to its 52-week low in early February. The extremely volatile ETF has a 52-week range of $2.22 to $35.30. SOLT has fund AUM of $134 million as of 2-12-2026 and class AUM of $246.5 million. Trading volume stands at 1.75 million. Interestingly, it pays a small dividend of $0.09, which is paid out monthly, for a 3.71% yield (TTM). It also has a hefty expense ratio of 1.85%. In this article we'll look at what the future looks like for SOLT and the type of investor it's set up for. Seeking Alpha What SOLT is As I opened the article with, SOLT is an actively managed ETF that is designed to generate 2× the daily return of Solana. The ETF doesn't hold any of the underlying but utilizes cash‑settled Solana futures contracts and swaps in an attempt to achieve its 2x goal. Included in the fixed income part of the fund is cash, cash‑like instruments, or high‑quality securities for Being a non-diversified fund means almost all of its performance will be determined by its exposure to Solana futures. How the fund works is every day of trading it resets its exposure to SOL in order to retain its 2x SOL multiplier. This is, of course, a two-edged sword. If SOL manages to climb 5% on any given trading day, SOLT has the goal of climbing 10%. On the other hand, if SOL drops 5%, SOLT could drop as much as 10%. Another factor if you are considering trading SOLT is that there is also the compounding factor if holding over several days or more. Under that scenario, the 2x multiplier can get skewed because of the compounding effect on its performance. Those shorting SOLT Shorts have had a big impact on trading volume for SOLT since its inception. It especially took off in October 2025, when it had $39 million in short interest. It jumped to its all-time high of $60 million in November 2025. For three out of the next four months, it had short interest of $36 million, with an exception in January 2026, when it jumped back up to $45 million. The increase in short interest corresponded with a surge in trading volume, which was in a range of approximately 45 million to 71 million. It stayed close to that range until it dropped to about 23 million right before Christmas. After the New Year it started trading at high levels once again, jumping to about 118 million in the first week of February 2026. MarketBeat As of January 30, 2026, SOLT had a short interest of 6.59 million shares shorted, reflecting 14.41% of public float. Days to cover was 0.5, according to MarketBeat. With the combination of the crypto correction, number of shorts, and the purpose of the ETF itself, it has resulted in a significant underperformance, which won't be solved until SOL and other cryptos return to an upward growth trajectory. ETFs that are leveraged, like SOLT, experience what is called volatility drag or decay. That means there can be huge swings in the price from one extreme to the other, even if, in this case, SOL trades flat. Seeking Alpha For these reasons, SOLT isn't the type of holding that should be held for the long term. What is SOLT good for? The nature of the 2x ETF is that it can be traded on both sides of the play. Money can be made going long or going short. Day traders or swing traders are the obvious target of the fund. There is no scenario I can think of that would warrant taking a long-term position in SOLT. Even when you look at the chart showing a nice upward move in the early days of the holding, the volatility is extreme, and there's simply no way of knowing whether or not that would be sustainable. There is also the psychological effect, where most traders would be more apt to sell in response to a big downward swing in the price. This could easily result in a big loss of capital. On the other hand, as the chart shows, there is some very significant volatility on both sides of the play, and taking a short or long position has the potential to generate some solid gains for those that don't mind taking some risk associated with volatility. The ETF has a lot of volume on a daily basis, and it has provided some excellent opportunities to take advantage of that. My thought is this is probably a better swing trade than anything else, based upon the price swings over a number of days. From the time of its inception to its all-time high, it has several moves that doubled or tripled over a period of four to five weeks. Now that the fund is trading at about its 52-week low, it is worth putting on a watch list for when cryptos reverse direction. One positive is now that it's trading at $2.20 as I write, there is little concern about a rush of shorts into the fund, at least not in the way they have when it was trading much higher with more room to fall. When looking at the charts, there have been a few days when it had a decent jump, but the bulk of the movement has historically happened over several days to a month or so. The lower it trades when crypto and SOL recover, the more a trader will get out of the holding. Conclusion SOLT is designed for a very specific, narrow investment group, one which targets short-term price movements on either side of the volatility. It can be a potentially lucrative investment for those with the discipline and patience to wait for a favorable entry point - whether it's short or long. Based upon the price movement on a daily basis, it isn't the most attractive investment for day traders, as the swing in price isn't usually enough to justify the risk. It's definitely a negative for anyone thinking in terms of holding it for the long term. It's too volatile and unpredictable to do so. The risk significantly increases for those thinking in those terms, even when the temptation comes when it starts to soar again. Without a doubt, this is a holding for swing traders looking to 2x or 3x their money over a period of a week to a month. There has been a predictable move in that regard, and the volatility is potentially profitable for shorts and longs. For the average retail investor maybe wanting to dip their feet into SOLT, small position sizes are best when considering risk. There's no hurry. Taking a small position offers a chance to watch how the fund performs when there is skin in the game. I know there can be regret when engaging in mitigating risk, especially if there is only a small amount of money in play. The tendency under those conditions is to get more aggressive when the next opportunity arises in order to get money thought to be lost because of being too conservative. Based upon the volatility of SOLT, swing traders looking to 2x their money will probably do well when an attractive price point is at hand. Again, investors need to be aware that this is a great way to play it short and long, with the opportunity to produce meaningful gains when the ETF price is running or grinding to a halt.