TL;DR

• Market observers are eyeing a breakout for ADA, with short-term targets ranging from $0.88 to $1.30.
• One industry participant sees a long-term bullish scenario where the asset could reach $10 by 2029 – a level that would require its market cap to exceed $350 billion.

Major Rally on the Horizon?

The price of Cardano’s ADA climbed by 11% in the past week following the overall revival of the cryptocurrency market. It currently trades at around $0.71 (per CoinGecko’s data), and multiple analysts envision the potential for further gains in the short term. 

The popular X user Ali Martinez thinks ADA is approaching “a major test” at $0.74. He believes a breakout above this mark could set the stage for an upswing toward $0.88. 

Other industry participants set even higher targets. Crypto King told his over 120,000 followers on X that ADA has been “consolidating really well” in the past day. They think the asset needs to remain in the $0.60-$0.70 range before rising to $1. 

The X user Token Talk noted that ADA has been recently trading sideways at approximately $0.70. According to them, analysts see a possible push to $1.20-$1.30, envisioning a “long-term bullish case” for $10 by 2029. 

It is important to note that ADA’s market cap would skyrocket to roughly $360 billion (based on the current circulating supply of 36 billion tokens) if this prediction comes true. As of the moment, the asset’s capitalization stands at $25 billion, making the forecast quite unlikely, at least in the current environment.

Meanwhile, the X user with over 2.2 million followers – Lucky – is also fond of ADA. A few days ago, the analyst envisioned a price uptrend above $1.60, labeling Cardano as “one of the strongest projects in the entire crypto space.”

What Can Ignite a Further Uptick?

Perhaps the biggest catalyst for a potential price surge for Cardano’s native token is the possible approval of a spot ADA ETF in the United States. Grayscale sought permission to launch such an investment vehicle, and the US SEC acknowledged the application in February.

If greenlighted, the product will enable easy access for institutions and retail investors to gain ADA exposure without worrying about storing the underlying asset. According to Polymarket, the approval odds before the end of 2025 currently stand at around 45%.

Additionally, the token could experience a price upswing in the event of a major partnership featuring Cardano. Recent discussions and developments involving the entity and Ripple hinted that a collaboration between the two might be incoming; however, nothing is official yet.

Most cryptocurrency rallies throughout the years have seen at one point or another the crucial entrance of retail investors.

However, the cycle that many believe started after the US elections seemed to lack those market participants. The latest data from Santiment, though, reveals that they might have finally arrived.

Are They Here?

One of the latest crypto experts to weigh in on the matter was Bitwise’s CEO, Hunter Horsley, who said earlier this week that the most recent BTC price rally, which drove the asset from $75,000 to $95,000 within a few weeks, was driven by institutions, advisors, corporations, and even nations.

He explained that this diversity of investors will ultimately benefit the cryptocurrency, but noted that retail traders are yet to be found, as the Google searches, usually a good indicator of their behavior, were still very low.

Santiment, though, published a different perspective. After the aforementioned $20,000 surge, the analytics platform said, “Retail traders continue to show confidence in crypto markets.” The findings are based on an increased number of social media posts, mostly in the form of big BTC price predictions, which typically come from such investors.

However, Santiment warned that bitcoin tends to move in the opposite direction of what the crowd expects, especially if they have turned to speculative assets like meme coins, which exploded in value recently after a months-long hiatus.

As Bitcoin has risen as high as $95.5K Monday, retail traders continue to show confidence in crypto markets. Across social media, mentions of higher BTC predictions are greatly exceeding mentions of lower BTC predictions.

Historically, bullish traders want to see most of the… pic.twitter.com/WJv7yNCYcF

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) April 28, 2025

SHT Balance on the Rise

IntoTheBlock revealed a similar trend, indicating that short-term traders, who are mostly comprised of retail investors, have seen a “significant increase” in their balances in the past week. If this influx continues, it will “support the view that the current move is more than a relief rally and could be the opening leg of a broader uptrend.”

Bitcoin saw an significant increase in short-term traders’ balances last week, pointing to renewed speculative demand.

If this influx persists, it supports the view that the current move is more than a relief rally and could be the opening leg of a broader uptrend. pic.twitter.com/uUfojXK4Dl

— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) April 28, 2025

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has delayed making a decision on two cryptocurrency-related ETF applications, tracking the performance of XRP and DOGE.

The meme coin exchange-traded fund was proposed by Bitwise, while the XRP fund comes from Franklin Templeton, which was filed in mid-March.

The review period has been extended to June 15 for the Dogecoin ETF and June 17 for the Ripple-based one.

“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to take action on the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised therein.

Accordingly, the Commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, 5 designates June 17, 2025, as the date by which the Commission shall either approve or disapprove, or institute proceedings to determine whether to disapprove, the proposed rule change (File No. SR-CboeBZX-2025-040),”- reads the filing.

Fox Business’s Eleanor Terrett, citing information from ETF expert James Seyffart, noted that the new dates are all “intermediate” and added that there will likely be even more delays until Q4 this year.

Some more detail after speaking with ETF guru @JSeyff just now:

These dates are all intermediate and we will likely see final decisions on a lot of the crypto ETPs in Q4. For the $XRP spot ETF, James is eyeing mid-October, around the 18th, as a final decision deadline. It’s… https://t.co/6FDIayFpHS

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) April 29, 2025

In addition, popular blockchain-focused news channel Wu Blockchain informed that the agency has delayed several other crypto ETFs, including a Solana fund from Franklin and Grayscale’s Hedera ETF.

The XRP ETF delay comes just a few days after the agency approved three futures funds from ProShares. Initial reports claimed that the financial vehicles would be launched on April 30, but this information was debunked earlier today. The launch date is now set for May 14.