Cardano’s (ADA) price surge of 20% in the past 24 hours has seen it top the day’s top gainers.
According to CoinMarketCap data, one of the main triggers was Grayscale’s registration of the “Cardano Trust” in Delaware on August 12th. This move immediately sparked wild speculation: would ADA follow in the footsteps of Bitcoin, which was previously approved as an ETF?
Grayscale’s move was seen as a replication of its previous strategy of bringing Bitcoin to spot ETFs. The difference was that now it was ADA’s turn to be noticed. Investors reacted immediately. Trading volume surged 66% to $3.66 billion in a short time. Market excitement was immediately felt, especially after the news spread widely.
Cardano community bets big on speed with Hydra and Leios upgrades
Meanwhile, on the development side, the Cardano community is also actively engaged. They recently approved a 96 million ADA (equivalent to $71 million) fundraising to support core development over the next 12 months.
The focus is on two major projects: Hydra, which is targeted to handle 1 million transactions per second, and Ouroboros Leios, which promises transaction finality in just two minutes, significantly faster than the current system.
But don’t get excited yet; the timeline is still long. Hydra will only be released gradually until 2026. Meanwhile, competitors like Ethereum and Solana have already started warming up their engines this year. So, while it seems ambitious, there’s also pressure for Cardano to keep up.
On the other hand, on-chain data also tells an interesting story. The number of addresses holding between 1 million and 100 million ADA has actually decreased by 10% since June.
But what’s more intriguing is that mega-whales have actually entered and absorbed 15% of the supply. The purchases occurred in the $0.58–$0.64 price range, a zone often used as a foothold before the next surge.
Technical data also supports this story. ADA managed to break through resistance at $0.91 and has continued to rise since. Although the RSI indicator has touched 75, indicating a significant surge, the bullish crossover on the MACD still leaves room for upside.
Traders’ current targets are $1.08 to $1.17. But remember, volatility remains a threat. Short position liquidations reached $832,000, far exceeding long position liquidations of just $439,000.
Furthermore, data from CoinGlass shows that overall derivatives market volume surged 122% to $7.29 billion, with open interest also rising 31% to $1.9 billion. Only one figure veers in the opposite direction: options volume plummeted 92%.
Perhaps traders are reluctant to play derivatives right now, or perhaps they’re just playing it safe.
