It was only yesterday that we wrote about the ADA breakout, as the asset hit a multi-month high of over $0.27 and analysts had just become very bullish, with massive price predictions flying left and right.
However, the asset was incorrectly rejected. In fact, ADA is down over 8% in the past 24 hours and is now below $0.255. This is rather surprising given the latest developments on the whale front.
The whales wake up
Data provided by Santiment Intelligence indicates that there is a significant increase in activity among the largest market players in the broader Cardano ecosystem. Transactions worth at least $100,000 jumped to 314 on Oct. 5, the highest level of such activity in more than four months.
It should be noted that the higher number of whale trades shows that large holders are becoming more active again, but does not reveal whether they are buying or selling. Cardano public interest is on the rise again as ADA’s social dominance reached 1.16%. This is its highest figure of the year after the token rose from below $0.19 to above $0.27 in a matter of weeks.
Santiment explained that new developments, including the launch of the RealFi mainnet on October 1, anticipation around Leios, support for Fireblocks, and additional institutional integrations, have helped put Cardano back on the social media map. After all, the asset’s market cap gained more than 42% since September 16 before today’s pullback pushed it south.
Cardano’s whales are waking up, ADA market capitalization is now up 42% since September 16!
The +42% increase in Cardano since September 16 is once again moving the whales. ADA transactions worth at least $100,000 jumped to 413 in one day, marking the highest whale activity since June 4.
The crowd suddenly arrived at the party too. ADA’s social dominance has reached 1.16%, its 2026 high. The altcoin’s move from ~$0.19 to ~$0.27 has clearly brought Cardano back into the crowd spotlight.
What’s causing all this? New project developments add fuel. RealFi launched on Cardano mainnet on October 1, as anticipation around Leios, Fireblocks support, and new institutional integrations helps drive Cardano’s biggest discussion spike of the year.
Our live Cardano chart: https://t.co/txYFvaHIzO
– Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) October 6, 2026
Was leverage to blame?
As mentioned above, ADA fell more than 8% over the past day, making it the worst performing altcoin among the 30 largest digital assets. Part of the blame could lie with leveraged positions. As reported yesterday, ADA’s open interest increased by 25% in just a few days to over $300 million.
This made the rally more than just a short squeeze, but it also meant that more leverage exposure was present in the market when price direction reversed. ADA rose nearly 11% to over $0.27 on October 5, but the subsequent market-wide sell-off has now erased much of those gains.
The article Why is ADA price down 8% today even as Cardano whales wake up? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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