In the wake of a broader downturn in the cryptocurrency market, Solana's open interest (OI) has seen a significant decline, shedding nearly $440 million in the past 24 hours as its price slumps to levels not seen in over a month. Despite the drop, traders are eyeing the situation as an opportune moment for strategic entry.

As of April 14, Solana's OI stood at approximately $1.62 billion, marking a substantial 21% decrease from the previous day, according to data from CoinGlass. OI serves as a key metric, measuring the total value of all outstanding Solana futures contracts across various exchanges.

Meanwhile, Solana's price has experienced a notable downturn, currently standing at $136.54, representing an 11% decrease over the past 24 hours, as reported by CoinMarketCap.

This sudden price drop has led to a wipeout of approximately $36.55 million worth of long positions held by traders, dampening hopes of a price surge leading up to the upcoming Bitcoin halving on April 20.

The downward trend in Solana's price mirrors a similar decline seen across other major cryptocurrencies. XRP, for instance, witnessed the most significant drop of 12.12% over the same period, closely followed by Dogecoin with a 10.86% decrease, and Cardano's ADA with a 10.20% decline.

Despite the current market turbulence, traders maintain a relatively positive outlook for the altcoin market. Renowned trader GCR Classic, breaking their year-long silence on Twitter, advised their followers on April 14 to seize the opportunity to invest in high conviction tokens during these moments of market correction.

However, amidst this optimism, on-chain analysis firm Glassnode suggests a more cautious approach. While some traders anticipate significant altcoin gains, Glassnode's analysis indicates that Bitcoin drawdowns during previous euphoric phases have been more severe, serving as a potential indicator for the broader market sentiment.

This downturn in Solana's price comes amid ongoing network issues. Reports of intermittent congestion on the Solana blockchain have prompted several crypto projects to postpone their launches. Solana developers are actively working to address these technical challenges by April 15, aiming to alleviate network congestion and transaction errors that have plagued users in recent weeks.