- Wallets holding 1M–10M ADA added about 170M tokens in early January 2026.
- Large holders purchased an estimated $82M of ADA over several weeks.
- Cardano trades near $0.29 while open interest has dropped below $500M.
A cohort of large Cardano wallets has been quietly building exposure to ADA even as smaller traders retreat, a divergence that on-chain analysts say mirrors conditions seen before the token’s last significant rally.
Wallets holding between 1 million and 10 million ADA added roughly 170 million tokens, worth approximately $49 million, in early January 2026, according to analytics tracked by FXStreet. Zooming out further, the same cohort has accumulated nearly $82 million in ADA over recent weeks.
The buying has come amid broad weakness: ADA is currently trading near $0.29, still 71% below its all-time high.
Derivatives Cool as Large Cardano Addresses Hold Firm
The contrast between large- and small-wallet behavior has sharpened noticeably. Open interest in ADA derivatives has slipped below $500 million for the first time in months, a threshold analysts associate with waning speculative appetite among retail participants.
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Exchange balances have declined in tandem, suggesting tokens are migrating off platforms rather than being staged for sale.
Whale addresses, meanwhile, have not moved to distribute holdings. The reduction in exchange-held supply has helped sustain a tentative price floor near $0.28, where ADA is currently holding above its exponential moving average.
A Pattern Traders Have Seen Before
The current accumulation pattern carries echoes of late 2025, when a comparable wave of large-wallet buying preceded a 32% price advance. Whether history repeats itself depends largely on what happens at a descending trendline that the ADA price is now approaching.
A clean break above that level would mark the first meaningful structural shift in the market’s recent trajectory. A rejection, by contrast, would likely send the token back toward the lower boundary of its established range.
Traders will be watching whether large wallets sustain their buying cadence and whether exchange reserves continue declining, two indicators that would reinforce the case for a demand-driven floor. Funding rates and open interest trends will serve as real-time gauges of the extent to which speculative capital re-enters the market.
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