Cardano Fails Despite $340 Million Buying Spree, Thwarted by $1 Billion Sell Wall

▲ Cardano (ADA) / ChatGPT-generated image

Cardano (ADA) is facing mounting investor anxiety as analysts warn that the cryptocurrency has come under downward pressure after failing to achieve a technical breakout despite large-scale whale purchases totaling $340 million.

According to crypto-focused media outlet BeInCrypto on February 26 (local time), Cardano recently displayed a breakout setup on its chart suggesting a potential surge of more than 38% alongside a strong bullish divergence. However, it ultimately failed to break above key resistance levels. Behind the failed breakout, massive and discreet selling by whales—often difficult for retail investors to detect—was revealed. Data analysis from Santiment showed that while some whales attempted to defend support levels by purchasing $340 million worth of Cardano, a far larger wave of sell-offs totaling roughly $1 billion flooded the market, completely offsetting upward momentum.

A closer look at whale activity shows diverging strategies depending on holdings size. Mid-sized whales holding between 10 million and 100 million ADA sold approximately 70 million ADA, valued at around $21 million. More strikingly, relatively smaller whales holding between 1 million and 10 million ADA offloaded a staggering 3.41 billion ADA worth about $1 billion in a single move. These stealthy sell-offs by major holders neutralized technical buy signals and created a hidden bearish divergence in the market.

Network activity indicators are also reinforcing weakening investor sentiment with a sharp decline. The number of active addresses on the Cardano network—a key metric of participation—surged to around 70,000 over the weekend but has since fallen by half to approximately 33,000. This suggests that market participants have either paused trading or shifted to a wait-and-see approach for risk management, signaling stagnation in fresh capital inflows needed for a price rebound.

Market experts are closely watching whether Cardano can maintain its key support levels. If the price drops below $0.25, large-scale liquidations of long positions could be triggered, potentially accelerating the decline uncontrollably. With technical rebound attempts blocked by whale-driven sell walls, the $0.25 support level is expected to serve as the final line of defense determining Cardano’s short-term trajectory.

The Cardano market is currently experiencing extreme volatility as accumulation and massive sell-offs by institutional-scale whales intersect. Given that capital flows too large to be fully explained by technical analysis alone are driving the market, investors are maintaining caution while closely monitoring real-time on-chain indicators and liquidation volumes.

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