Cardano Price Prediction: 40% ADA Rally Faces Headwinds as Retail Conviction Weakens

Key Insights:

• An expert Cardano price prediction of 40% now hangs on the edge with increasing volumes failing to push the price upwards.
• Cardano price dropped by 1.5% which caused all the gains from Monday to be erased.
• Activity on Cardano ecosystem picked up sharply in December following the launch of the Midnight sidechain.

Cardano price dropped by 1.5% which caused all the gains from the previous day to be erased. This caused the cryptocurrency to extend its losses which occurred during the weekend.

At the time of writing, ADA price was struggling to push past a descending wedge pattern. As such, an expert Cardano price prediction showing a 40% rally hangs on the edge but the analyst is still optimistic.

Network activity, however, looks stronger. On-chain volume has jumped for two consecutive weeks now and continues to surge thanks to the launch of privacy focused sidechain of Cardano, Midnight. For this reason, there is a growing number of new users and rising user activity.

Unfortunately, this has not pushed conviction in the market as traders still remain cautious with bears overwhelming the bulls. Meanwhile, futures data suggest sellers are still in control.

This imbalance suggests traders are still leaning toward downside risk, despite the recent boost in network usage.

Expert’s 40% Cardano Price Prediction Remains at Risk

Activity on Cardano ecosystem picked up sharply in December following the launch of the Midnight sidechain. Transaction volume reached a monthly high on December 10 when it reached $19.74 million.

Meanwhile, trader and analyst CryptoClue is convinced that ADA price could extend a 40% price rally in his latest Cardano price prediction.

Momentum remained strong over the weekend. Data from TapTools shows trading volume rose to $16.11 million on Sunday. This marked a clear jump from $6.39 million recorded just a day earlier, highlighting renewed engagement across the network.

Unique trading wallets also climbed in December, reaching a monthly peak of 3,150. By Sunday, that figure stood at 2,200, showing participation remained well above earlier levels.

However, sentiment in the derivatives market tells a different Cardano price prediction story. Traders continue to take a defensive stance, reinforcing the bearish bias.

A Closer Look into ADA Price Prospects

Data from CoinGlass shows ADA futures open interest fell by 1.57% over the past 24 hours to $666.25 million. This move points to position closures and lower leverage.

At the same time, funding rates remain negative. The open interest–weighted funding rate sits at minus 0.0079%, signaling that traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain short positions.

Meanwhile, the top 11 cryptocurrency by market cap trades within a descending wedge on the daily logarithmic chart, defined by two converging trendlines.

The 1.5% drop could extend losses from Saturday and Sunday, however, any effort from bulls to continue buying could push similar gains as Friday when ADA/USD rose by 7%.

If the altcoin continues with the current momentum, the ADA price could move upwards and test the major trendline near $0.4350.

This will connect two crucial highs for Cardano price, the one that occurred on October 27 and the second one that occurred on December 9, 2025.

Moreover, selling pressure has also eased with the RSI rising to the oversold region at 38 and the MACD pushing closer to a bullish crossover.

On the downside, Cardano price has also found support around $0.3415 at the lower trendline of its descending wedge, a level traders are watching as a potential short-term floor.