Whales are stockpiling Cardano.
Recent developments and technical signals suggest a promising outlook for a potential Cardano (ADA) rally, with key factors including network upgrades, technical patterns, on-chain growth, and macro market conditions.
Key Factors Supporting a Potential Rally:
Network Upgrades & Ecosystem Growth:
Cardano recently implemented the Plomin hard fork, introducing decentralized governance, and ongoing upgrades like Hydra and the upcoming Leios aim to enhance scalability and speed. These improvements can foster broader adoption, especially in DeFi platforms such as Liqwid, MinSwap, and Indigo, which have seen rising TVL (total value locked).
Technical Signals:
The emergence of a Golden Cross pattern — where the 50-day moving average crosses above the 200-day moving average — has been identified by traders as a historically bullish indicator. This pattern on ADA has led to significant price jumps in the past, with some predicting a potential 230% increase that could push ADA toward $3 in about a month.
Price Momentum and Volume:
ADA recently experienced a breakout accompanied by over 73% rise in trading volume, supporting the momentum towards higher price levels. Market cap expansion (around $31 billion) reflects growing institutional interest.
Market Catalysts:
Potential approvals of crypto ETFs could bring increased liquidity into ADA, underpinning price gains, possibly allowing ADA to surpass $1.20 in the short term and reach $1.56 to $2.50 by year-end 2025.
Challenges and Risks:
Slow Adoption Pace:
Despite growth, Cardano’s on-chain activity and DeFi traction are increasing slowly relative to competitors. Its community-driven development approach can delay innovation compared to faster-moving Layer 1s like Ethereum, Solana, and Aptos.
Market Cycles:
ADA’s price is still correlated with major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, so bearish trends in these can limit upside regardless of ADA’s fundamentals.
Competition:
Rising Layer 1 competitors and new challengers may divert attention and investment away from ADA.
Future Price Predictions (For 2025):
Conservative forecasts place ADA mostly between $0.80 to $1.40, with a possible stretch up to $2 if market conditions improve. More optimistic models, factoring in continued network upgrades and macro altcoin strength, see ADA reaching between $2 and $3.5, with a speculative target up to $5 during a strong bull cycle. Some predictions suggest neutral market activity with ADA trading around $0.85 to $1.05 in August 2025.
In summary, technical patterns like the Golden Cross, ongoing upgrades enhancing scalability, rising DeFi ecosystem activity, and potential ETF inflows provide bullish signals for ADA. However, slow adoption pace, fierce competition, and dependence on broader crypto market trends mean any rally is not guaranteed and requires sustained positive momentum and institutional interest.
Additionally, over 470 million NIGHT tokens have already been claimed, indicating significant community engagement and potential long-term holder attachment. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 63 is in a bullish market zone, but not yet overbought (threshold of 70). Buying pressure from these large holders has intensified, causing the price of ADA to rise. The RSI has not yet reached the overbought threshold of 70, leaving room for further growth before a potential correction.
Investing in Cardano (ADA) could benefit from technological advancements like network upgrades such as Hydra and Leios, which are designed to increase scalability and speed. Furthermore, positive technical indicators like the Golden Cross pattern could lead to significant price jumps, with some predicting a potential 230% increase.
Despite these potential benefits, it's essential to consider challenges such as slow adoption pace, competition from other Layer 1 projects, and dependence on broader crypto market trends. The slow adoption pace might limit the upside potential, even with promising technical signals.
