Solana ($SOL) shows two on-chain cracks within the same two-week window. Weekly DEX trading volumes fell by approximately 82%, and just as that decline unfolded, a group of keyholders began reducing their stakes. Dune and Glassnode data aligns two events roughly weekly, centered around the meme coin launchpad.
Timing is what tells the story. Here’s how the pieces are connected:
Solana DEX volume collapses in 2 weeks
The decline is steep and recent. According to data from Dune, total weekly DEX trades across the Solana protocol reached nearly $104.3 billion for the week of May 11, with DEX Meteora alone accounting for approximately $93.1 billion. Two weeks later, the week ending May 25, total weekly trading volume had fallen to about $18.8 billion, with Meteora down to $9.2 billion.
This is a roughly 82% drop over two weeks, with the largest venues being hit the hardest.
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Meteora alone reduced weekly trading volume by more than $80 billion. The decline is far from isolated and widespread, indicating that the speculative flow that once defined Solana trading has dried up.
The slide has also gotten longer, with weekly DEX volumes on the network down more than 50% since January. The question is what caused the flow to dry up and who responded to it.
Memecoin launchpad has gone quiet
The answer lies in meme coins. Solana’s DEX volume has long operated on a flywheel where launchers mint new meme coins, traders chase them, and the DEX handles the churn. Its engine, which had components comparable to Ethereum, stalled.
According to on-chain data, new meme coin launches will roughly halve in early 2026. Launchpad activity has cooled and we are seeing a decline in the supply of fresh tokens for trading. With fewer new stories to follow, the amount of speculation that inflated weekly DEX totals has nothing to feed on. It is highly likely that trading bot profits have also declined as a result.
The numbers of Meteora make that connection concrete. A venue built around meme coins and launch churn will not lose more than $80 billion in weekly trading volume due to widespread market declines alone.
If the launches that generate deals dry up, it will fall. The collapse of DEX volumes is essentially the collapse of memecoin speculation, and the timing of that collapse is critical to what happens next.
Overlap: Key cohorts start selling in the same window
This is where the two datasets are combined. According to Glassnode’s HODL Waves, the 1-2 year cohort held 16.049%, as it is a group-supplied indicator by the period in which a coin has not been moved. $SOL By June 1, that share had fallen to about 15%.
This decline started on May 21st and was just inside the period from May 11th to May 25th when DEX volumes collapsed. Two on-chain signals rotated almost simultaneously. This cohort holds coins purchased during the 2024-2025 Solana activity boom.
This is the same boom when the amount of meme coins is decreasing.
The data does not prove that a volume crash forced the cohort out, and the article does not claim that it did. The data shows that the timelines overlap neatly. As the activity that supported Solana’s trade economy declined, a group of holders who had anchored the economy began to relinquish at the same time.
Whether Solana DEX volume collapse is the trigger or just parallel symptoms, the two are currently occurring together. And that’s the question Solana will answer in the coming weeks.
