Cardano Price Prediction: ADA Stuck at a Record Low as Chain Fees Plunge

Key Insights

• Cardano price has settled at a record low this year.
• The network’s chain fees have continued falling this year.
• The recent Midnight mainnet launch has not led to a surge in activity.

Cardano price remained under pressure this week as weak on-chain activity continued weighing on sentiment around the network. ADA traded near $0.27, extending a broader downtrend that started after the token peaked near $3 during the 2021 bull cycle.

The decline also coincided with falling chain revenue, weak decentralized finance activity, and limited adoption compared with competing networks such as Ethereum and Solana.

Cardano Price Forms Bearish Structure

The weekly chart showed ADA forming a large head-and-shoulders pattern, a structure traders often associate with bearish continuation setups.

The pattern’s head formed near the December 2024 high around $1.33. The left shoulder developed near $0.79, while the right shoulder later formed near $1.01. Cardano is now trading close to the neckline support at $0.236.

ADA also remained below the 50-week Exponential Moving Average and continued trading under the Supertrend indicator, reinforcing the broader bearish structure.

If the neckline breaks decisively, traders may next target the psychological $0.20 support region.

Despite occasional rebounds, Cardano has continued to underperform most large-cap blockchain networks over the past year.

Cardano Lags Ethereum And Solana In Ecosystem Activity

ADA has dropped more than 65% during the past 12 months. During the same period, Ethereum declined roughly 45%, while Solana fell closer to 10%.

Part of the weakness reflected Cardano’s limited market share across decentralized finance and stablecoin infrastructure.

Data from DeFiLlama showed Cardano total value locked falling toward roughly $137 million from previous highs above $600 million.

That figure remains small compared with competing blockchain ecosystems managing billions in decentralized finance assets.

The network has also struggled to attract several major decentralized finance applications operating across other ecosystems. Platforms such as Uniswap, Aave, and PancakeSwap remain absent from Cardano. Stablecoin adoption also remained limited.

Cardano recently integrated USDCx, a bridged version of USDC. However, the total stablecoin supply across the network dropped toward roughly $46 million. By comparison, the broader stablecoin market now exceeds $310 billion.

The absence of large-scale stablecoin liquidity continued to limit decentralized finance growth across the ecosystem.

Cardano Chain Fees Have Plunged

More data shows that, despite its $9 billion valuation, Cardano is not making much money, and fees have continued to fall over the past few years.

The network made just $238k in fees last quarter, down from $524k in the fourth quarter. It has been in a strong downward trend since 2022, when it peaked at $4.25 million.

The applications built on the network are also not making much money. Their fees dropped to $2.1 million in the first quarter. In contrast, Solana’s chain revenue soared to over $752 million in the last quarter. Ethereum’s chain fees had $840 million in the same period.

Unfortunately, the recent Midnight mainnet launch has not led to a surge in network activity in Cardano. Also, it is highly unlikely that the upcoming Leios upgrade will lead to a surge in network activity, as most developers are focusing on popular chains like Ethereum and Solana.

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