Cardano (ADA) price climbs as whales add holdings before van Rossem hard fork

Cardano (ADA) traded around $0.161 on Thursday, edging higher as on‑chain data showed large investors increasing their positions. Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA collectively controlled about 25.65 billion ADA, the highest balance since February 2023, while wallets with fewer than 100 ADA reduced holdings by roughly 0.7% over the past four months.

Futures activity also signaled growing sentiment: open interest rose from about $422 million on Monday to $445 million by Thursday, and the funding rate turned modestly positive at 0.0042%, indicating long‑position holders were willing to pay a premium. Despite these signs, ADA remained below several key technical levels, keeping the broader market structure bearish.

The van Rossem hard fork is scheduled for Saturday and will introduce new Plutus functionality and other protocol improvements aimed at enhancing smart‑contract performance and developer tools. Analysts note a critical supply zone between $0.1679 and $0.1973; a break above this range could flip the zone into support and trigger a bullish reversal, though caution is advised until price confirms sustained strength.