Solana (SOL) has led the altcoin market in gains in the past seven days as Bitcoin (BTC) rose above the $28,000 mark to tally its highest prices in more than a month.

Solana is up 23.9% in the past week, according to data from crypto price tracker CoinMarketCap as of Oct. 2, 2:54 p.m. GST. It also leads the website’s top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and fifth in the wider altcoin market in 24-hour gains with 6.23%. At the time of writing, SOL exchanges hands at $24.13.

The amount of staked Solana in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms also surged in the past 24 hours, hitting a 2023 high of $338.9 million, according to DeFi Llama. The latest numbers represent a 4.39% increase in the past day, with staking platform Marinade Finance handling about 39.76% staked SOL.

Solana’s total value locked (TVL) has consistently shown significant growth, logging a 38% increase since Jan. 1, when it stood at $210.47 million.

Meanwhile, analysts attribute Bitcoin’s price increase to optimism surrounding Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) and seasonality.

Market watchers observed that Bitcoin started rallying after the United States Congress postponed the possibility of a government shutdown to November. Analysts suggest that an everted government shutdown could mean the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can potentially meet its Bitcoin ETF deadlines in the coming months.

The month of October is historically known to be a strong period for Bitcoin, and enthusiasts refer to it as "Uptober". BTC’s price has surged by an average of 20.82% in October since 2012, with 2014 and 2018 being the only exceptions.

Notably, the $28,500 price served as a major support level in the previous bull market and could be a key price level to watch for in the coming weeks as it potentially flips into a level of resistance.

The rise in Bitcoin’s price also follows massive short liquidations on crypto-tracked futures. In the past 24 hours, more than $88.52 million worth of short positions were liquidated, according to data from derivatives tracker CoinGlass. In comparison, only $20.24 million long positions were liquidated. Specifically for Bitcoin, total liquidations amounted to $46.96 million, with short positions coming in at $40.57 million.

Analysts say that with short sellers liquidating by buying the underlying asset, the combination of new buyers and short liquidations may have likely boosted the BTC/USD pair further.