Cardano faces risks at the $0.80 mark as whales dump 30 million tokens.

In the past 24 hours, the price of Cardano (ADA) has slightly increased by about 2.5%, while the trading volume unexpectedly surged by 69%, reaching 1.45 billion USD.

Notably, founder Charles Hoskinson once again affirmed the ultimate ambition of putting Cardano ahead of Ethereum (ETH). However, in contrast to that confident statement, the actions of the "whales" indicate a completely different direction.

Whales sell off as prices rebound

In the past 7 days, the market has witnessed strong sell-offs from whales. According to Ali Martinez on X, about 30 million ADA have been dumped after the price peaked locally at 1.01 USD.

Observing the chart, Bitcoin Magazine noted that whales began to divest from the threshold of 0.92 USD, just as the price failed to return to the 1 USD mark – a warning signal that a downtrend is forming. At this time, the total holdings of whales still amount to approximately 5.57 billion ADA.

Source: Ali Martinez/SantimentThis strong selling move increases pressure on the market, but the price still reacts lightly, bouncing back from the accumulation zone around 0.80 USD, indicating that investor sentiment remains strong.

ADA trades below important EMA lines

On the price chart, ADA is trying to hold the 0.80 USD mark. Maintaining above this threshold may reflect that Cardano is just undergoing a correction after reaching its peak on August 14. Notably, the trading volume at this peak is nearly similar to the level recorded on March 2 – when the market witnessed a strong wave of profit-taking.

The long-term uptrend of ADA has not yet been broken, as long as the higher low at 0.70 USD is maintained. However, the bearish cross signal from the EMA lines is currently supporting a bearish scenario, increasing the likelihood of ADA dropping to retest the 0.70 USD mark.

If this threshold is breached, the bullish structure will collapse, opening up the risk of a drop to the range of 0.57–0.51 USD – where a double bottom pattern was previously formed during the bear market.

Source: Crypto Metric/XConversely, this could also be the area where "Smart Money" returns to accumulate, creating momentum for a reversal. However, if there is a lack of new capital, a deeper weakening scenario for ADA is hard to avoid.

Short squeeze or deeper pullback?

The downside risk of ADA is increasing as the market records a volume of short orders stacked just above the current price level, significantly outpacing the number of long orders below.

According to the data, approximately 17 million USD worth of ADA is concentrated in the range of 0.82 – 0.85 USD. This is a sensitive area: a "short squeeze" could push the price back up to the 1 USD mark, but conversely, if selling pressure is triggered, the price could completely drop below 0.80 USD.

Source: CoinGlassMeanwhile, the number of Long orders around 0.78 USD is only half of the Short orders, making this area a key point for the potential reversal. However, if the price sweeps through this area without bouncing back, ADA risks continuing to slide down to 0.76 USD.

SN_Nour