Cardano Price Prediction: ADA Flips XRP, Eyes Push Above $0.60

Key Points

• After hitting fresh highs since early June near $0.60 over the weekend, Cardano has pulled back alongside broader crypto markets.
• Weak data out of China is weighing on macro sentiment, though Cardano’s near-term technical bias remains bullish.
• The cryptocurrency’s market cap has once again surpassed that of Ripple’s.

Cardano (ADA) Primed For 20% Rally?

After nearly surging as high as the $0.60 mark over the weekend, ADA, the native token that powers the Cardano blockchain has since dipped back to trade just above $0.55. Cardano’s latest rally to fresh highs since early June was powered by a technical breakout above key resistance around $0.55, with the cryptocurrency having formed an ascending triangle pattern in recent weeks.

A downbeat tone to global macro risk appetite in wake of concerning Chinese economic data has weighed on cryptocurrency sentiment on Monday, snuffing out ADA’s short-term bullish momentum. But with ADA still very much in an uptrend, traders will likely be looking to buy the dip. If the cryptocurrency pulls back towards its 21-Day Moving Average just above $0.52, this could present such an opportunity.

Over the next few sessions/weeks, technicians suspect that ADA will continue to rally towards its next chart target – the late May/early June highs in the $0.67-0.69 area, which would mark a more than 20% rally from current levels.

Cardano Flips Ripple

In wake of its recent push above the key $0.55 resistance area, Cardano’s market capitalization has surpassed that of Ripple’s, making it the sixth most valuable cryptocurrency in the world after Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, USD Coin and BNB, according to CoinMarketCap. Cardano’s market cap was last around $18.7 billion, whilst Ripple’s was around $18.2 billion.

The last time Cardano convincingly flipped Ripple was back in June. Analysts will likely cite optimism about Cardano’s upcoming Vasil hard fork upgrade as a key driver behind its recent outperformance versus Ripple, which remains suppressed amid uncertainty regarding its ongoing legal battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In terms of the latest news regarding the Vasil hard fork, the company behind the development of the Cardano blockchain Input Output Global (IOG) gave an update last Friday. According to the tweet, “the whole dev and SPO community… continue to work hard preparing for the Vasil upgrade,” which will bring “multiple enhancements” to the Cardano blockchain.

The IOG & @CardanoStiftung teams – plus the whole dev and SPO community – continue to work hard preparing for the #Vasil upgrade, bringing multiple enhancements to #Cardano.

Here’s a quick recap of where we’re at and what you can expect…👇

Thread🧵
1/9

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) August 12, 2022

“The Vasil upgrade is the most ambitious program of work we’ve undertaken,” Input Output Global said, adding that “none of this would have been possible without the community’s support… it’s been a real team effort”. Meanwhile, the popular Cardano influencer Twitter account @cardano_whale also posted an update regarding Vasil hard fork progress.

At the end of the tweet thread, the account told its follower “it’s coming, chill out lol”. Cardano and IOG have received criticism by some of the more impatient members of the crypto community after delaying the Vasil hard fork upgrade twice in the last two months.