Cardano's Rough Day: Longs Get Rekt While Whales Hoard ADA Like There's No Tomorrow

Cardano price slipped over 5% toward the $0.25 level on Thursday, giving back some gains from the previous day. According to data from crypto.news, ADA fell 5.7% from $0.263 on Wednesday to $0.248 on Thursday morning before settling at the $0.25 mark. Ouch.

The decline came amid a broader crypto market sell-off as investors cashed in profits following the U.S.-Iran ceasefire news. Bitcoin, the bellwether asset, dipped 1.2% below $71,000. Ethereum fell 3.4%, while other major crypto assets like BNB, XRP, and Solana were all in the red with even steeper losses. When the geopolitical dust settles, apparently so do your portfolios.

As ADA dropped, it caught highly leveraged long traders with their pants down across the derivatives market. Data from CoinGlass shows nearly $545K worth of long positions got liquidated in the past 24 hours — nearly nine times the amount of short positions liquidated in the same period. Long liquidations happen when bullish traders get caught by falling prices and are forced to sell to cover their margins. When long liquidations far outweigh shorts, the price often faces intense downward pressure as forced selling creates a cascading effect. Nothing like a good old-fashioned leverage cleanup to remind everyone that leverage is a mean mistress.

Despite the turbulence, whales are still betting big on the token going up. Data from Santiment shows the number of whales holding over 10 million ADA has hit a four-month high of 424. That's a 5.2% jump over the past nine weeks — a clear sign whales have been accumulating during these dips. If this whale accumulation trend keeps gaining strength, it could attract retail attention and potentially shift ADA's price trajectory. While the degens get rekt, the big fish are loading up like it's Black Friday at the ADA store.

On the daily chart, Cardano has moved back into a horizontal channel pattern where it was trading since early February. The altcoin broke below the pattern on March 29 as risk-on sentiment withered amid geopolitical concerns. The recent rebound back into the channel suggests bulls are trying to reclaim control. The Supertrend indicator still shows some lingering bearishness (remaining red), while the MACD points to slightly bullish momentum with a bullish crossover, though still under the zero line. Technical analysis in the group chat: it's complicated.

For now, the channel's trendlines mark key resistance and support. A break below the lower trendline at $0.24 could signal a deeper correction. If bulls push the price above $0.30, it could spark a fresh rally toward previous highs. Classic make-it-or-break-it territory — nothing like a good old-fashioned support test to keep things spicy.