Following a staggering 20% drop that took the price down to $0.22, the Cardano price will bounce with a 17% impulse during recent trading sessions. This technical move has been backed by massive accumulation from large holders, who added approximately 150 million tokens to their digital wallets.
According to Santiment data, addresses holding between 10 million and 100 million ADA showed unwavering conviction during the market panic. While retail traders sold under pressure, these whales increased their positions, effectively acting as the main engine for supply absorption at deep discount levels.
Market deleveraging and the reduction of liquidation risks
In parallel with the accumulation of large capital, open interest in the derivatives market has undergone a healthy 41% purge. This massive reduction, which brought outstanding contracts down to $494 million, suggests that excess leverage has been effectively removed from the system.
Likewise, the funding rate has turned slightly negative, indicating that traders are no longer aggressively betting on the upside. On the other hand, the blockchain network recorded exchange outflows of $12 million, confirming a phase of withdrawals toward cold storage solutions.
What are the technical hurdles for a sustained recovery?
Despite the optimism from large investors, social sentiment remains at “extreme fear” levels following Bitcoin’s global market decline. Therefore, for the Cardano price will bounce definitively, the asset must urgently reclaim the $0.26 resistance level and hold it.
However, if sentiment does not improve and the $0.22 support fails, the risk of dropping toward $0.20 remains quite high. Additionally, the divergence between whale optimism and retail caution suggests that the recovery will be led by institutional capital flows, not euphoria.
Ultimately, the launch of Cardano futures on the CME platform on February 9 could act as the necessary catalyst. Therefore, investors should closely monitor transaction volume, as institutional liquidity will determine the solidness of the floor against ongoing volatility.
As the week concludes, price stability above psychological levels will be crucial to avoiding new liquidation cascades. Therefore, the market awaits a macroeconomic relief signal that allows Cardano to consolidate its recovery structure against other major altcoins in the sector.
