Solana briefly recorded more weekly trades than the New York Stock Exchange during 2026, according to a Fidelity Digital Assets study promoted by Solana on November 8. The finding highlights the scale reached by low-cost on-chain trading, but it does not mean Solana processed more money than the NYSE or captured 15% of the U.S. securities market. Fidelity's comparison counts trades, irrespective of their size or value.

What Fidelity counted

Fidelity analyzed Solana exchange activity through September 23 and compared it with Nasdaq, the NYSE, NYSE Arca, Cboe BZX and NYSE American. Solana averaged about 95.9 million trades per week, while the five exchanges together averaged about 656.8 million. That put Solana near 15% of their combined count, up from roughly 0.3% in 2022. Its weekly total also briefly moved above the NYSE's during the year.

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The unit of measurement is crucial. A small decentralized-exchange swap and a large stock transaction each count as one trade in this exercise, even though their economic value may differ sharply. Solana's venues also trade crypto assets under different rules, hours and participant structures from regulated U.S. securities exchanges. Fidelity further noted that substantial U.S. equity activity occurs away from public exchanges, so the five-exchange total is not a complete measure of American stock trading.

Tokenized assets and derivatives add volume

Fidelity identified tokenized assets and perpetual futures as two areas expanding Solana's trading footprint. Monthly tokenized-asset trading on the network rose from less than $100 million in mid-2025 to nearly $5 billion by September 2026, according to the report. It also estimated that Solana-based perpetual futures generated more than $590 billion in notional trading over the preceding 12 months. Those figures describe activity categories, not profits earned by the network or investors.

How activity reaches the network

Solana's low base fees help make small, frequent transactions practical. During congested periods, traders can pay priority fees or tips through ordering systems such as Jito to improve execution. Fidelity argued that this competition for transaction placement creates a path from trading demand to network revenue. The link is not automatic, however: activity can migrate between applications or chains, and intense trading periods may not persist.

Who is affected

Decentralized exchanges, market makers and application developers can use the findings as evidence that Solana has attracted a large flow of transactions. Validators and SOL holders are exposed to whether that flow produces durable fees rather than only headline trade counts. Traditional financial firms evaluating tokenization may also view the network's throughput as relevant, while still requiring controls for custody, privacy, compliance, settlement finality and operational resilience.

The comparison therefore says more about frequency and infrastructure use than about the relative size of the two markets. It does not establish equivalence between crypto swaps and securities trades, and it is not a measure of market capitalization, liquidity quality or investor protection. Fidelity also warned that Solana's longer-term value accrual depends on competitive positioning, technical execution and the cyclicality of trading demand.

What to watch next

The next test is whether Solana can sustain high trade counts while tokenized assets and derivatives mature, and whether fees rise without undermining its low-cost proposition. Researchers will also need comparable data on trade value, unique users, wash-trading controls and off-exchange activity before drawing broader market-share conclusions. For now, Fidelity's study documents a notable throughput milestone, with important limits on what that milestone proves.

Sources

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