Cardano Whales Scoop 120M ADA in One Week: Further Rally Expected?

Cardano whales bought 120 million ADA ADA $0.87 24h volatility: 2.1% Market cap: $31.84 B Vol. 24h: $1.77 B , worth $144M, in the past three days, a clear conviction that the altcoin could rally in the future.

According to Santiment data, whale wallets holding 100M-1B ADA tokens increased their positions from 3.15 billion to 3.27 billion tokens between December 3 and 6.

Crypto analyst Ali Martinez highlighted that a big chunk of the whale bid, 100M ADA, happened on Wednesday. This indicated that large players were uber-bullish on the altcoin upside potential despite its +200% gains in November.

Cardano TVL Crosses $700M

Cardano also saw record network growth, another factor that could fuel ADA’s next uptrend. As of this writing, its TVL (total locked value) hit $735.7M, up from yearly lows of $200M. This was also an all-time high for the network, surpassing its previous record of $494M in March 2024.

For the unfamiliar, TVL refers to the amount of funds locked in DeFi smart contracts on the chain. By extension, it gauges investor trust in the network, indicating that investor confidence in the Cardano chain improved in Q4 2024.

Network growth didn’t stop at the TVL. Network user activity also soared 3x as DEX (decentralized exchange) trading volume hit yearly highs. According to Artemis data, Cardano’s DEX volume was only $1.8M before the US elections.

Afterward, it climbed to a yearly high of $30M but was slightly down to $27.3M as of press time. That’s a 15x increase in DEX trading volume in a month. Interestingly, the surge in trading volume was driven by an uptick in users, as shown by active addresses.

Notably, users increased 3x from below 30K to over 90K over the same period, illustrating strong market interest in the ADA. The strong correlation between DEX trading volume and ADA price meant that more network traction could fuel ADA’s extra uptrend.

ADA Price Action

So, what’s next for the ADA price in the short term? Ali Martinez projected that the altcoin, based on the bullish triangle formation, could front a 30% rally.

The ascending triangle formed as ADA consolidated around $1.2 since late November. The pattern always triggers a bullish breakout rally equivalent to the height (base) of the triangle.

While the strong fundamentals, including TVL and network growth, supported the bullish outlook for ADA price, a break below $1 would invalidate the short-term projection.

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