Cardano [ADA], which lost 5% in the past 24 hours, is still struggling a week after falling out of the top 10 most-capped cryptos.
The gap between ADA and Bitcoin Cash [BCH], which is at position ten, was widening as it was more than $1.20 billion.
The altcoin has persistently displayed weakness, yet the recent support level may mark a significant turning point.
Cardano holds above a key support level
On the three-day chart, Cardano was trading above a demand zone that bulls had defended since mid-2023. The zone at $0.244 initiated the move that reached $1.186 as 2024 came to a close.
On the 4-hour chart, the $0.537 zone was above where the current downtrend started. Price broke above this descending trendline resistance and was retesting it.
However, the altcoin was trading between the two short-term EMAs. Cardano had broken below the 9 EMA, but the 21 EMA was still holding strong.
Source: TradingView
On the capital flow side, money was moving into ADA, as seen in the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF), which was at 0.15. This was evident from the data on ADA Futures: longs vs. shorts.
Whales and retail go long
Whales, retail, and smart money had different views. However, in some instances, whales and retail appeared to align, while smart money remained generally bearish.
As per CoinGlass data, the Long/Short Ratio on Binance was bullish, with retail at 2.48, whale accounts at 2.77, and whale positions at 1.58. Smart money sentiment was extremely bearish even on Bybit.
Source: CoinGlass
OKX and Bybit had the same sentiment, but whale positions on both were bearish, at 0.78 and 0.97, respectively. This meant that whales and retail were buying while smart money was selling.
Apart from the lack of clarity in the price direction due to this mixed sentiment, activity was also not looking promising.
Cardano lags on-chain!
As per data from Token Terminal, the daily trading volume of the past week has been growing gradually. This was after a drop from the week’s high of $614 million.
When writing, the volume was at $549 million, a gradual increase from this week’s daily low of $364 million.
Source: Token Terminal
Additionally, active addresses have been stagnant since last year in March, even though there have been a few spikes. There were only 17,691 active addresses on the day.
Source: DefiLlama
Moreover, its stablecoin market cap had not shown growth since August of 2025. This indicated that liquidity could be a problem despite the high cumulative trading volume.
Final Summary
- Cardano trades above its most important support level with whales and retail going long.
- ADA was experiencing lagging network activity, which explained why the altcoin had dropped so hard.