TLDR
- Cardano (ADA) jumped over 12% in a single day, rising from around $0.26 to above $0.31
- Whales and sharks accumulated roughly 819 million ADA over the past six months
- Grayscale raised ADA’s weighting in its Smart Contract Platform fund to above 20%
- A bullish ABC pattern on the 4-hour chart points to a potential target of $0.38
- Futures open interest expanded nearly 30% in a single day, suggesting fresh capital entering the market
Cardano (ADA) posted a 12% gain on February 26, climbing from around $0.26 to above $0.31. Trading volume surged to nearly four times its average level during the move.
The rally followed weeks of consolidation near a key support zone between $0.24 and $0.26. This range also marked where ADA bottomed in the previous market cycle.
ADA had briefly fallen to $0.220 on February 6 before rebounding. Since then, it has held the $0.24–$0.26 area as a base.
On-chain data shows large holders accumulated roughly 819 million ADA over the past six months. This buying happened even as prices were falling, suggesting these investors viewed the lower prices as an entry point.
🐳🦈 Cardano's key whales & sharks have quietly been accumulating over the past 6 months. While its price has fallen over 71% from $0.90 to $0.26, wallets with 100K-100M $ADA have added +819.4M more ADA ($213.9M) & +1.6% of the total supply. pic.twitter.com/rmyfi8E0XV
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 24, 2026
Asset manager Grayscale raised ADA’s weighting in its Smart Contract Platform Select Capped Index fund to above 20%. That makes ADA the fund’s third-largest holding.
Institutional and Whale Buying
The Grayscale adjustment is partly mechanical, driven by index-tracking rules. Still, it reflects ADA’s continued standing among major smart-contract platforms.
Futures open interest expanded by nearly 30% in a single day. Analysts see this as a sign of fresh capital entering the market rather than just short positions being closed.
The RSI remains below overbought territory, leaving room for further upside according to momentum readings.
ABC Pattern and Key Price Levels
Analyst SmellyTaz identified a bullish ABC pattern forming on the ADA/USDT 4-hour chart. Wave A ran from $0.22 to $0.28 on February 6. Wave B pulled back to $0.25 on February 11.
Wave C began from that low but stalled at $0.30 on February 15. ADA then retraced to a support zone around $0.26–$0.27, known as the BC retracement zone.
Wednesday’s peak at $0.31 still fell short of the wave C target. ADA has since pulled back around 6% from that high.
The analyst expects Cardano to retest a “reload” support zone between $0.27 and $0.28. A bounce from there could complete the ABC sequence with a target around $0.38.
The pattern would be invalidated if ADA drops below the BC2 support zone.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson recently highlighted the upcoming Midnight privacy project, which has attracted early partnerships and targets enterprise and regulatory-compliant use cases.
Total value locked on the Cardano network remains below previous highs despite the recent price recovery.
ADA’s immediate support sits near $0.31, with resistance around $0.34 and the 50-day moving average.
