What Cardano Whales’ $161M ADA Accumulation Means for Price

Smart money wallets continued to accumulate Cardano (ADA) over the past two months, even as the price of the cryptocurrency fell.

In contrast, small retail portfolios have shed assets over the past three weeks. This divergence in investor behavior could signal a potential turning point for Cardano.

ADA Whale buildup contrasts with retail sales pressure

ADAlike the rest of the market, experienced significant volatility. In the last two months alone, the altcoin is down around 19%. After an initial increase in January 2026, the price reversed sharply, erasing much of its progress since the start of the year.

According to data from BeInCrypto Markets, ADA It was trading at $0.35 at press time, up just over 2% in the last 24 hours. The modest recovery aligns with a broader market rebound.

Despite the price weakness, on-chain data shows sustained accumulation from large holders. Blockchain analytics firm Santiment revealed that large Cardano holders with balances between 100,000 and 100 million tokens have accumulated 454.7 million. ADA over the last two months.

This recent accumulation of $161.42 million in whales highlights the continued conviction of these market participants.

Further analysis of the wallet data shows that whale addresses hold between 10 and 100 million. ADA have constantly increased their exposure.

Meanwhile, wallets hold between 1 and 10 million ADAas well as those with between 100,000 and 1 million ADAexperienced a temporary slowdown in demand, although accumulation resumed in January 2026.

At the same time, retail investors continued to sell. Smaller supports with 100 ADA or less have downloaded 22,000 ADAworth almost $7,810, over the past three weeks.

Santiment observed that whale accumulation alongside retailer capitulation signals a potential recovery after the market stabilizes.

“When whales add and sell retail, this is historically an ideal setup for an eventual rebound when crypto markets begin to stabilize,” the post read.

At the same time, fundamental adoption remains strong. ADA The number of holders increased from 3.17 million in November to 3.228 million, according to AdaStat. This increase of 50,000 wallets reveals continued interest in the Cardano ecosystem.

Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem also demonstrates stability. According to DefiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols stands at $161.87 million, up 1.53% from the past. 24 hours.

TVL holds nearly 460 million ADA Since October, the indicator capital remains even if prices fall.

ADA Technical Outlook: What’s Next for Price?

The key question now is whether growing adoption and sustained whale accumulation can translate into meaningful price appreciation.

From a technical perspective, some analysts see early signs of a potential trend change. In a recent article on X, an analyst noted that ADA is consolidating within a historic demand zone, where a clear accumulation is taking place.

According to the analyst, repeated reactions from this level increase the likelihood of a bullish reversal. Based on this setup, the analyst set the three upside targets: $0.6386, $0.9358, and $1.3285.

“The risk remains controlled as long as the price remains above the support zone,” the analyst added.

However, the bullish scenario faces near-term challenges. Another analyst pointed out that ADA is still trading below key resistance levels, with the chart showing two significant sell walls above.

Sell ​​walls form when large groups of sell orders are placed at specific price levels, creating resistance that can limit upward movement. Until buying pressure is strong enough to absorb this supply, price increases could stagnate or reverse.

As a result, while data accumulation and adoption measures support constructive long-term perspectives, ADA These areas of resistance may need to be eliminated before a sustainable recovery can take shape.

The post What are Cardano Whales’ $161 million ADA Ways to Accumulate for the Price appeared first on BeInCrypto.