Altcoin market analysis: Cardano sees 14% price surge

Cardano has surged over 14% in the past 24 hours to hit levels last seen in June 2019, and on-chain signals are mostly bullish to suggest the rally is likely to continue

Cardano, currently ranked 9th among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, is trading up by more than 14%.

The spike comes as an uptick in sentiment and on-chain data signals follow news that the highly-anticipated Shelley upgrade is up and running.

The price of Cardano against the US dollar is roughly $0.0940 as of press time. The last time ADA/USD traded at these levels was a year ago when the pair exchanged hands at highs of $0.0941 on June 22.

With ADA/USD dipping to lows of $0.083 in early July, the latest peak means the coin has traded lower for a year.

But Cardano’s push to recoup lost value has benefitted from momentum set after the mid-March 2020 crash that had seen the token plummet to lows of $0.023. May saw an uptrend begin to materialise and gather momentum in June when the Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson announced that the launch of its staking rewards algorithm was on schedule.

Shelley is expected to roll out network decentralization and significantly increase Cardano’s scalability. While the upgrade won’t be fully implemented before the August hard fork, the current trend will likely see investors continue to buy up and hold the token.

The surge in the ADA/USD price makes Cardano the biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

On-chain signals are mostly bullish

According to on-chain data provided by IntoTheBlock, Cardano is mostly bullish with an ‘In the Money’ score of 4.43%. Roughly 53% of users have held the token for more than a year, with 73% of these holders currently in profit.

But despite on-chain strength, price remains way below $1.00, a psychological level that was last breached in 2018 when Cardano touched an all-time high price of $1.33 on January 4.

ADA/USD price action

ADA/USD is currently facing strong resistance at this level, which has previously capped prices below June 2019 highs.

However, a strong monthly close and pumped up trading volume could aid current price action. The monthly charts suggest the market is eager for a break above $0.11, which will rely on follow-through momentum sustained over the next three weeks.

If the upside holds and volume continues to peak, a successful Shelley upgrade could be the catalyst for ADA/USD posting a major move.

Comparatively, Bitcoin and Ethereum are both just above 1% on the day.