Cardano (ADA) is showing signs of simmering excitement despite a recent price drop. At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.9520, with a 24-hour volume of $9.17 billion and a market capitalization of $33.86 billion. Its price has fallen 4.11% in the last 24 hours, but on-chain signals suggest the potential for a larger move ahead.

Crypto analyst Mintern shared on X (formerly Twitter) to report that big-name ADA holders have gone on a purchasing spree. According to the post, so-called “whales” have bought 200 million ADA, worth approximately $157 million, within 48 hours. This dramatic surge in buying has raised whale control to 10.3% of the overall ADA supply, fueling talk of a potential breakout.
Regarding the optimistic sentiment, Coin Bureau added that such a rapid acceleration in accumulation has frequently been followed by intense price movements. While ADA has been struggling against price pressure for months, it seems to be gaining traction.
Another analyst, Smith, noted that ADA’s new movement constitutes the first significant breakout in several months. He highlighted that both momentum and trading volume are converging, and bullish targets could reach 220% from the coin’s current price.

Should the trend persist, the latest drop may be a temporary pause before ADA makes a strong rebound. Bulls will keep a close eye on whether whale accumulation manifests as a parabolic rise or the market requires additional fuel before launch.
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Cardano’s derivatives market experienced a significant rise in trading activity as volume increased by 39.82% to $10.39B. This sudden rise revealed increased market participation, despite the short-term price action remaining relatively stable.

By contrast, open interest fell by 4.56% to $1.80B, indicating fewer positions remain outstanding despite the increase in traded contracts. This suggests that investors may be focusing on short-term investors rather than long-term exposure.
The OI-weighted funding rate remains positive at 0.0099%, indicating that long positions are still somewhat dominant in the market. This may reflect persistent, though moderate, bullish sentiment.

Generally, funding rates have been stable, which means that as volumes grow, market participants have not over-leveraged. Such an equilibrium may help Cardano avoid deep liquidations in the wake of swift movements in rates.
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