Large Cardano holders have built their biggest position since February 2023, even as ADA sits near multi-year lows. The whale buying stands in sharp contrast to retail wallets trimming their coins, and ADA rose 4.5% on Tuesday.
Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA now control more than 25.6 billion ADA, their highest balance since February 2023. On-chain data platform Santiment Intelligence flagged the shift in an X post on July 14. Cardano rose 4.5% on Tuesday, and steady accumulation points to a solid long-term outlook for the months ahead.
Whales buy as retail sells
Smaller investors are moving the other way. Wallets holding fewer than 100 ADA now own about 0.7% fewer coins than they did four months ago.
The buying comes as ADA faces bearish sentiment after underperforming throughout 2026 and recently trading near multi-year lows. Santiment noted that the divergence between whale accumulation and retail selling suggests stronger hands are absorbing supply while smaller investors lose patience.
The price backdrop remains weak. Cardano has dropped almost 50% year-to-date and is down around 78% over the past year.
Ecosystem work and steady inflows
Cardano continues to advance several ecosystem projects, including Leios testnet development, Hydra scaling upgrades, Mithril improvements, Pyth Network oracle integration and fresh funding efforts.
Money has kept flowing in through regulated products. Blockworks data, cited by chief meme officer Mintern, showed that Cardano ETFs and ETPs saw net inflows of more than $9.7 million in 2026 with zero outflow months.
Whale buying does not guarantee an immediate price recovery. But analysts say the mix of sustained buying by large holders, washed-out sentiment and retail capitulation has created one of Cardano’s healthier long-term setups this year.
Source: Benzinga
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