Cardano (ADA) continued its sluggish price action on Tuesday, sliding another 1% following Monday’s 0.88% decline. The cryptocurrency remains trapped in a tight sideways trading range over the past week. However, behind the scenes, significant shifts are occurring: large holders, or “whales,” are quietly accumulating, while smaller retail investors appear to be selling off.
Data from Santiment reveals a growing divergence between whale wallets and retail investors. Addresses holding over one million ADA tokens have increased their holdings from 23.25 billion on January 4 to 23.74 billion today, indicating smart money is snapping up the dip. Meanwhile, wallets with less than 100,000 ADA have reduced their holdings from 6.86 billion to 6.72 billion ADA, suggesting retail investors are cutting losses amid the sideways price action.
This widening gap underscores a classic market dynamic where institutional or large investors accumulate quietly while smaller players exit during uncertain times.
Derivatives data from Coinglass highlights a modest increase in open interest—rising 0.68% to $769.92 million—indicating that traders remain engaged with Cardano, albeit cautiously. The funding rate also nudged up by 0.0074%, which often reflects leveraged buyers paying premiums to maintain their positions, a mildly bullish signal.
However, volatility remains. In the past 24 hours, approximately $949,900 in long positions were liquidated compared to $333,000 in shorts. This imbalance pushed the long/short ratio down to 0.9704, pointing to a slight bearish tilt among traders.
Technically, ADA is squeezed between key levels. The price fluctuates between Friday’s low of $0.5450 and Tuesday’s high of $0.5939, moving within a falling channel defined by the May 23 and June 10 peaks on the top and a series of recent lows on May 19, June 5, and June 23.
If Cardano’s price breaks below $0.5450, it risks further declines toward $0.5100, near the lower boundary of the channel, which would be a bearish development.
Not all indicators are bearish, though. The MACD gave a buy signal on Sunday, with the MACD line crossing above the signal line and green histogram bars emerging—traditionally a bullish sign. However, the RSI sits at a relatively weak 37, edging toward oversold territory and indicating that momentum remains subdued.
For Cardano to reverse course and resume an upward trajectory, it must break above the upper trendline of the falling channel and close decisively above $0.5939. Such a breakout could open the door to a move toward $0.6186, a resistance level last touched on June 14.Until then, traders remain cautious as ADA navigates this tight range amid shifting investor behavior.
July 2025, Cryptoniteuae